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With asthma, getting ongoing care from a clinician isn’t always as convenient as it should be.
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Asthma is a condition which can be serious, and needs to be managed with the right medication. It’s a condition that affects the lungs, with swelling of the airways and tightness in the chest making it more difficult to breathe.
Minor cases can be a nuisance, but more severe cases may be life-threatening. There’s currently no cure for it, but treatment can prevent or relieve symptoms, so asthma can be well-managed without it affecting your life too much.
More than 8 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with asthma (so around 12% of the population), with approximately 5.4 million receiving treatment for it. So it’s fairly common.
Worldwide, it’s thought to affect more than 300 million people, and be prevalent in 4.5% of the global population. It’s more common in developed countries, but the prevalence of it is increasing in less developed countries too.
You’re more likely to get it as a child than during adulthood, but you can still develop it when you’re a bit older. It affects more boys than girls in early childhood, but this gender ratio switches amongst adults.
Some people grow out of asthma, but it’s normally a long-term condition if you get it as an adult.
Yes. There are several different forms of asthma that you can develop. Allergic asthma is caused by allergic reactions to specific substances. Adult-onset asthma first presents in adulthood, while childhood asthma occurs when you’re a child.
There’s also occupational asthma, which you can develop in the workplace (usually due to an allergy), and nocturnal asthma (which occurs at night). You can get acute or chronic asthma, seasonal asthma (which occurs at certain times of the year) and exercise-induced asthma too.
There’s a rare type of asthma called eosinophilic asthma, which is when your body produces too many white blood cells. Eosinophil counts measure the level of white blood cells in your body and can help monitor the condition.
Eosinophilic asthma usually starts in adults between the ages of 35 and 50. We’re still learning about the condition, but it can’t be easily treated with many of the usual medications.
How we source info.
When we present you with stats, data, opinion or a consensus, we’ll tell you where this came from. And we’ll only present data as clinically reliable if it’s come from a reputable source, such as a state or government-funded health body, a peer-reviewed medical journal, or a recognised analytics or data body. Read more in our editorial policy.
While we know what can trigger an attack, the root cause of asthma isn’t entirely clear.
Genetics, the environment, and the relationship between these two factors are thought to play a role. Asthma rates have also risen in urban areas in the past few decades, which has led some to suggest that air pollution may contribute towards it.
Respiratory infections and physical activity are also linked to asthma attacks, but ultimately the condition can be triggered by many factors which vary from one person to the next.
Moderate asthma symptoms include wheezing, coughing and chest tightness. The right asthma medication can help to treat these symptoms. Severe asthma attack symptoms include being too breathless to speak, dizziness, blue fingers or lips and fainting.
It’s only when asthma symptoms develop into an asthma attack that you should seek immediate medical help, especially if you don’t have your treatment with you. Severe asthma flare-ups can be tackled with medication that helps to ease symptoms. So in short - it’s important that you always have your asthma treatment with you.
Asthma is a lifelong condition and there’s currently no cure. Thankfully, it can be managed with easy-to-take medications that have few side effects. Mild symptoms may only last for a few minutes, whilst more severe symptoms can persist for longer.
Asthma breathing difficulties are the most likely symptoms, which can be alarming when they’re severe. But the good news is that medication can help to relieve these symptoms.
How we source info.
When we present you with stats, data, opinion or a consensus, we’ll tell you where this came from. And we’ll only present data as clinically reliable if it’s come from a reputable source, such as a state or government-funded health body, a peer-reviewed medical journal, or a recognised analytics or data body. Read more in our editorial policy.
There are a few different sorts of asthma treatment available. You can get long-term preventative treatments that help to manage and control day-to-day asthma symptoms and reduce your risk of having an attack. There are also reliever treatments you take to help when an attack comes on.
Some people use a combination of reliever and preventer treatments, and some treatment options even do both at once, known as combined treatments.
Preventer treatments are usually someone’s ‘main’ asthma medicine. They help to keep inflammation and swelling in your airways under control. Because they stop swelling and inflammation from increasing in your airways, there’s less chance of you having a serious reaction to your asthma triggers.
It’s important to use this treatment every day, even when you don’t have symptoms. Most people take their preventer medicine twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.
Reliever treatments are only used for quick relief when you get symptoms (or when you’re having an asthma attack). They’re fast acting and work quickly in the airways to relax the muscles, so that you can breathe more freely. Reliever and preventer medicines tend to come in different colours.
There are also combination treatments, which can help relieve symptoms like tightness in the chest and breathlessness in the moment, as well as restrict inflammation in your airways to manage them long term.
You need to take your combination treatment every day, even if you aren’t feeling unwell.
It’s important to note that a lot of combination treatments won’t provide you with quick relief if your symptoms get worse, or if you have an asthma attack. So if you get symptoms, you should always have your reliever with you to tackle symptoms quickly. Because the medicine in combination treatments is long acting rather than fast acting, it can’t treat symptoms that develop suddenly.
A clinician may recommend that you use a combination treatment if your preventer isn’t keeping your asthma under control.
As well as using the preventer daily, there are a few things you can do to stop an asthma flare-up from happening. Knowing the signs of asthma and what causes them is important as you can avoid many of the triggers that lead to an attack. These can include things you’re allergic to or even stress.
It may also be helpful to maintain the air quality in your work or home if pollution and allergens are a trigger for you.
A clinician will normally help you put together a personal action plan that can make it easier to stay on top of your asthma. This includes how to monitor the condition, what you should do if you have an asthma attack and information about your medicines.
How we source info.
When we present you with stats, data, opinion or a consensus, we’ll tell you where this came from. And we’ll only present data as clinically reliable if it’s come from a reputable source, such as a state or government-funded health body, a peer-reviewed medical journal, or a recognised analytics or data body. Read more in our editorial policy.
Have something specific you want to know about Asthma? Search our info below, or ask our experts a question if you can’t find what you’re looking for.
Global asthma prevalence in adults: findings from the cross-sectional world health survey. BMC Public Health, 12(1).
Is asthma prevalence still increasing? Expert review of respiratory medicine, 10(1), pp.39–51
Mometasone or Tiotropium in Mild Asthma with a Low Sputum Eosinophil Level. The New England Journal of Medicine. USA. Nejm Group.
Leveraging -omics for asthma endotyping. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 144(1), pp.13–23.
Comparison of asthma prevalence in the ISAAC and the ECRHS. ISAAC Steering Committee and the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. European Respiratory Journal, 16(3), pp.420–426.
Respiratory symptoms and peak expiratory flow in children with asthma in relation to volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath and ambient air. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 13(5), pp.348–363.
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