Asthma: A Global Health Threat Affecting 300 Million People - Research Paper

Introduction

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disorder that is marked with the hyper-responsiveness with the recurrent episodes of coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and tightness of chest. It has been established that the episodes are associated with the airflow obstruction that can be reversed spontaneously or with a particular treatment. The condition has been noted to be affecting over 300 million people globally according to the World Health Organization (Fuseini & Newcomb, 2017). Some of the risk factors are environmental factors as well as host factors. The host factors include obesity, gender, and genetics. Some of the genetic factors include atopy. The disease is noted to be more prevalent among males in children and in females in adults. Therefore, it is important to study the pathophysiological nature of chronic and acute asthma including diagnosis and treatment to understand its management.

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Pathophysiology of Chronic Asthma and Acute Asthma Exacerbation

Understanding the pathophysiology of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation is important in understanding the management of the conditions, diagnosis, as well as treatment. Asthma has been noted to depict various pathophysiological factors including bronchiolar inflammation with an airway constriction as well as resistance. This is manifested in episodes of coughing, wheezing, and breath shortness (Huether & McCance, 2017). It has also been established that chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation can lead to an increase in a mucus-secreting cell with the expansion of the glands secreting mucus. There can also be an injury at the epithelial peeling that can lead to extreme air impairment. It should be noted that the loss of the epithelium's barrier function allows the allergens to penetrate hence leading to the airways becoming hyper-responsive, which is a major feature of asthma (Laureate Education, 2012). It should be noted that asthma also leads to the loss of enzymes that essentially breaks down the inflammatory mediators which ensure the reflexive neural effects from the sensory nerve exposure. Medical evidence has established that when a person with the condition is not treated properly, then there could be air remodeling. Such developments can lead to the progressive loss of functions of the lung as well as permanent fibrotic damage.

Impact on Gender Factor

The gender disparity is a major factor for both chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation that impacts on the changes throughout life. In children, the conditions are demonstrated to show more prevalence on boys than girls with a prevalence rate of about 11.9% to 7.5% respectively (Fuseini & Newcomb, 2017). It has also been established that boys are twice as likely to be hospitalized of the conditions as boys. However, this observation changes at adolescent where there is a decline of the asthmatic condition prevalence as well as morbidity in the males which is concurrent with an increase in the prevalence of females. This changes and increases in adulthood respectively where women become three times likely to develop and be hospitalized of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation than men. This observation has been noted to be maintained throughout the fertility period of women until the time of menopause where there is a decrease on the prevalence of the conditions among women (Fuseini & Newcomb, 2017). These changes have been associated with the changes in sex hormones hence suggesting that the sex hormones modulate pathways that are associated with the pathogenesis of hormones. Therefore, the issue of gender does not affect the onset of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation but is impacted by age.

Diagnosis and Treatment

In a minority of the patients demonstrate uncontrolled or partially controlled asthma regardless of the intensive treatment. However, the diagnosis and early treatment facilitate the management of the condition. The diagnosis of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation of the patient starts with a physical examination to eliminate the other possibility of other conditions like COPD (Hammer & McPhee, 2019). This is followed by tests that seek to establish the functions of the lung. The tests include spirometer and peak flow which estimate the narrowing of the bronchial tubes and how hard the patient breathes respectively. These tests are done after or before a medication like albuterol that opens the airways. Other tests that can be conducted include allergy testing, imaging like a chest x-ray, nitric oxide test, and methacholine challenge. The treatment of the conditions would depend on the asthma exacerbations classification identified (Hammer & McPhee, 2019). They are classified as either mild, moderate, severe, or life-threatening. The first approach for a patient would be to avoid the triggers while taking the daily medication that keeps the symptoms under control. However, the right medication would depend on the age of the patient, symptoms, and asthma triggers. The long-term control medications for chronic asthma include inhaled corticosteroids, leukotriene modifiers, long-acting beta-agonists, and theophylline. However, in case of an emergency acute asthma, the rescue medications would include short-acting beta agonists, ipratropium, and oral as well as intravenous corticosteroids.

Mind Maps

Figure 1: Mind Map for Chronic Asthma (Mind meister)

Figure 2: Mind Map for Acute Asthma (Mindmeister)

Conclusion

In conclusion, asthma is a challenging condition that can be stressful on the patients. The condition could be chronic asthma or acute asthma exacerbation which can be a limiting condition. It occurs in both children and adults. Among the prevalence, factors include age, gender, and genetic factors. It has been established that asthma affects boys more than girls at a tender age but the prevalence changes with adult women showing more prevalence than adult men. Early diagnosis and treatment are, therefore, important for a patient with the diagnosis involving physical examination and imaging among other tests. The treatment includes various forms of therapy and medication depending on the level of the condition. Therefore, it is important to understand the condition in order to help patients as well as to manage it effectively in case it develops.

References

Fuseini, H., & Newcomb, D. (2017). Mechanisms driving gender differences in asthma. Current Allergy and Asthma Reports, 17(3), 19. doi: 10.1007/s11882-017-0686-1

Hammer, G. D., & McPhee, S. J. (2019). Pathophysiology of disease: An introduction to clinical medicine (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Huether, S. E., & McCance, K. L. (2017). Understanding pathophysiology (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2012). Introduction to advanced pathophysiology. Baltimore, MD.

Mindmeister. (2019). Asthma. Retrieved from: https://www.mindmeister.com/306256404/acute-asthma