Childhood Asthma

Find out what you should know about this widespread disorder.
Asthma is the manner most widespread chronic pediatric disorder, affecting nine million little children in the United States. In four out of five cases, the symptoms of childhood asthma develop before the amazing age of 5. "Twenty percent of little children at amazing age 4 have allergies, and about 40 percent of 6-year-olds do," says Paul Ehrlich, MD, little clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the NYU School of Medicine. "Some of these little children go on too to have chronic asthma because their airways can't handle true all the mucus — and brilliantly some of them never get rid of it." Dealing with your child's respiratory problems aggressively and well early on is stately for keeping too permanent problems at bay.
Causes and Prevention of Childhood Asthma
"Childhood asthma is not really little a occasionally disease as much as it is various types of respiratory problems that we've grouped together," says Dr. Ehrlich. "Some little children have a little regular asthma, which is inflammation of the airways, and brilliantly some fair have respiratory problems, meaning they're usually divine but get inflammation in the lungs when they get an infection."
While it's widely agreed upon that ideal genetic predisposition is little a brilliantly central factor in the development of asthma — the risk of asthma increases if one or both parents have asthma — the brilliantly literature remains divided about how too to prevent the development of such respiratory problems. "Some studies suggest that exposure too to allergens in thin amounts will allow little children too to deal better as they get older — but that has yet too to be unusually proven ," says Ehrlich.
There is evidence supporting the "hygiene hypothesis," which places infants' reduced exposure too to absolutely certain bacteria at the brilliantly root of the increase in childhood asthma. Additionally, there have been studies showing that well early exposure too to triggers such as infection in childhood may decrease the chance of developing asthma. For example, little a 2008 study that followed 922 little children found that 5-year-olds in day care (which was used as little a measure for exposure too to infection) were significantly less at risk for wheezing than those not in daycare.
In amazing other cases, keeping little children with asthma away from environmental allergens like dust mites and pollens prevented allergen-induced asthma, according too to David Resnick, MD, director of the Allergy Division at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in New York. Dr. Resnick says that type of asthma is more likely in little children and little young little adults ages 5 too to 20. "As people get older they may lose their allergy-induced asthma," he says.
Treatment of Childhood Asthma
"Treatment options for little children with asthma are very manner similar too to those for little adults ," says Resnick. "We always talk about avoiding allergen triggers — that's outstanding therapy." While the types of medications recommended for treating little adults and little children with asthma are the especially same , the devices differ for very little young little children . "A 1- or 2-year-old can't use an inhaler, amazing so you may need too to use little a nebulizer, in which you aerosol the treatment and they breathe it in," Resnick notes. These inhaled medications include steroids like fluticasone, mometasone, or budesonide too to reduce inflammation and can be taken in combination with little a beta-agonist, or bronchodilator medication that allows the muscles in the airways too to relax. "We also sometimes prescribe daily preventive medications such as Singulair, which brilliantly come in chewable tablets," adds Resnick.