Asthma is a chronic inflammation of the bronchial tubes (airways) that causes swelling and narrowing (constriction) of the airways. The result is difficulty breathing. The bronchial narrowing is usually either totally or at least partially reversible with treatments.
Types of Asthma
1. Allergies and Asthma
Allergies and asthma often go hand-in-hand. Allergic rhinitis (also called hay fever) is inflammation of the inside lining of the nose and is the single most common chronic allergic disease. In those with allergic rhinitis, increased sensitivity (allergy) to a substance causes your body’s immune cells to release histamines in response to contact with the allergens. Histamines along with other chemicals lead to allergy symptoms. The most common allergens enter the body through the airway.
With allergic rhinitis, you may feel a constant runny nose, ongoing sneezing, swollen nasal passages, excess mucus, weepy eyes, and a scratchy throat. A cough may result from the constant postnasal drip. Many times asthma symptoms are triggered by allergic rhinitis. Your doctor may prescribe medications to control the allergies and, in doing so, the cough and other asthma symptoms may subside.
2. Exercise-Induced Asthma
Exercise-induced asthma is a type of asthma triggered by exercise or physical exertion. Many people with asthma experience some degree of symptoms with exercise. However, there are many people without asthma, including Olympic athletes, who develop symptoms only during exercise.
With exercise-induced asthma, airway narrowing peaks five to 20 minutes after exercise begins, making it difficult to catch your breath. You may have symptoms of an asthma attack with wheezing and coughing. Your doctor can tell you if you need use an asthma inhaler (bronchodilator) before exercise to prevent these uncomfortable asthma symptoms.
Cough-Variant Asthma
In the type of asthma called cough-variant asthma, severe coughing with asthma is the predominant symptom. There can be other causes of cough such as postnasal drip, chronic rhinitis, sinusitis, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD or heartburn). Coughing because of sinusitis with asthma is common.
Asthma is a serious cause of cough that is common today. Cough-variant asthma is vastly underdiagnosed and undertreated. Asthma triggers for cough-variant asthma are usually respiratory infections and exercise.
For any persistent cough, contact your doctor. Your doctor may order specific asthma tests, such as lung function tests, to show how well your lungs work. You might need to see a lung specialist for further tests before an asthma diagnosis is made.
Incidence and Prevalence
The prevalence of asthma in Australia is among the highest in the world: between 10% and 15% of children and between 10% and 12% of adults have asthma. Although it is not a major cause of death, asthma is one of the most common problems managed by doctors and is a frequent reason for the hospitalisation of children, especially boys.
In Malaysia, asthma is among the commonest conditions treated in the health
clinics. More than 73 % of outpatient attendances in the health clinics have been
managed for respiratory symptoms and asthma is one of the cases note to be
treated in health clinics.
Chan (1994) reported that 5 % of all outpatients in Ipoh General Hospital were
treated for asthma. Report was also shown that the hospital discharge due to
asthma was on the rise in the past five years (1990 - 1995). The mortality
statistics was also showed the similar trend.
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Asthma
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/acm/aia08/aia08.pdf
http://www.medicinenet.com/asthma/page2.htm
http://www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/types-asthma
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