Definition
Asthma is a chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. In the United States, more than 22 million people are known to have asthma. Nearly 6 million of these people are children. 3.5 million Blacks had asthma, and have the highest asthma prevalence of any racial/ethnic group (36 percent higher than that for Whites).
- In 2007, African Americans were three times more likely to die from asthma-related causes than the White population.
- From 2003-2005, African American children had a death rate 7 times that of non-Hispanic White children.
- Black children have a 260% higher emergency department visit rate, a 250% higher hospitalization rate, and a 500% higher death rate from asthma, as compared with White children.
- Children in poor families are more likely to ever have been diagnosed with asthma.
- While all of the causes of asthma remain unclear, children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke exposure are at increased risk for acute lower respiratory tract infections, such as asthma, and children living below or near the poverty level are more likely to have high blood cotinine levels, a breakdown product of nicotine, than children living in higher income families.
Alternative Names
Pediatric Asthma
Causes
The exact cause of asthma isn’t known. Researchers think some genetic and environmental factors interact to cause asthma, most often early in life.
These factors include:
- An inherited tendency to develop allergies, called atopy (AT-o-pee)
- Parents who have asthma
- Certain respiratory infections during childhood
- Contact with some airborne allergens or exposure to some viral infections in infancy or in early childhood when the immune system is developing
If asthma or atopy runs in your family, exposure to irritants (for example, tobacco smoke) may make your airways more reactive to substances in the air.
Some factors may be more likely to cause asthma in some people than in others. Researchers continue to explore what causes asthma.
Symptoms
Common signs and symptoms of asthma include:
- Coughing. Coughing from asthma often is worse at night or early in the morning, making it hard to sleep.
- Wheezing. Wheezing is a whistling or squeaky sound that occurs when you breathe.
- Chest tightness. This may feel like something is squeezing or sitting on your chest.
- Shortness of breath. Some people who have asthma say they can’t catch their breath or they feel out of breath. You may feel like you can’t get air out of your lungs.
Exams and Tests
Most children who have asthma develop their first symptoms before 5 years of age. However, asthma in young children (aged 0 to 5 years) can be hard to diagnose.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether a child has asthma or another childhood condition. This is because the symptoms of asthma also occur with other conditions.
Also, many young children who wheeze when they get colds or respiratory infections don’t go on to have asthma after they’re 6 years old.
A child may wheeze because he or she has small airways that become even narrower during colds or respiratory infections. The airways grow as the child grows older, so wheezing no longer occurs when the child gets colds.
A young child who has frequent wheezing with colds or respiratory infections is more likely to have asthma if: