symptoms and to ensure no sleep interference, no missed school or work, and no or few emergency room visits or hospitalizations because of asthma. Other goals include maintaining normal activity levels, normal or near-normal lung function, and no side effect or few side effects with optimal asthma therapy” (Haveles 2).
The majority of asthma cases are detected in childhood, but an individual can suddenly suffer from asthma at any age. The disease appears to have some genetic connection, since the normal incidence in the general population is 5%, but those with parents of siblings who suffer from asthma have an incidence of 25% (Klag 69). Asthma causes the aforementioned symptoms in the sufferer because the reaction to allergens produces inflammation of the airways. This irritation sets off mucous production as the body tries to soothe the irritation. In turn, the increased mucous production begins to fill up the bronchiole tubes causing an obstruction of airflow. Shortness of breath, chest constriction, wheezing and coughing result from the obstruction. This analysis will focus on the treatment and management of asthma.
The pathophysiology of asthma continues to be the main focus of asthma research. Recent studies have shed light on new aspects of asthma pathophysiology. For example, the breath of asthma sufferers during an attack is a thousand times more acidic than healthy people’s (Bad 1). This discovery led researchers to investigate the role of pH in asthma pathophysiology, an exploration that may lead to new treatments for preventing or managing asthma attacks “During a study of the role of certain gases in airway inflammation, researchers at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville accidentally discovered that patients having an asthma attack have breath with a pH of about 5; the breath of a healthy person registers at about 7. Using inhaled steroids during an asthma attack quickly brings the pH back t...