Childhood Asthma
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. It is a lung disease characterized by difficulty in breathing, cough with sputum and some time fever. Children with asthma typically cough, wheeze, and experience chest tightness and shortness of breath.
Asthma in children and infants is a major health problem showing steady increase in prevalence both in developing and developed countries. The incidence of childhood asthma in Asian countries varies between 5.2 percent in Taipei to 30 percent in New Zealand and 10 percent to 17 percent in other countries.
Seventy-four percent of asthma attacks in children are experienced in children less than 5 years of age and 26 percent in less than one year of age. The ratio of male and female incidence is 2:1
Causes
In children, an acute asthma attack usually occurs at the time of a cough and cold caused by a viral infection. Wheezing in children is most often caused by colds rather than by asthma. When they do develop asthma, it may be due to allergic reactions to irritants, or some other triggers or stimuli like those listed below:
Irritants – dust, cigarette smoke, fumes and chemicals Allergies – to pollen, grass, medicines, animals, house dust mite, fungus or certain foods Infections – colds and flu Exercise – especially in cold, dry air Emotions – stress, laughing or crying very hard Weather
Symptoms
- Pain or feeling of tightness in the chest
- Agitation
- Wheezing
- Coughing – chronic or recurring
- Breathlessness