What is asthma?
Asthma, also called bronchial asthma, is a disease that affects your lungs. It is a chronic (continuing) condition, meaning it does not go away and requires ongoing medical management.
Asthma currently affects more than 25 million people in the United States. This total includes more than 5 million children. Asthma can be life-threatening if you don’t get treatment.
What is an asthma attack?
When you breathe normally, the muscles around your airway are relaxed, allowing air to flow easily and quietly. During an asthma attack, three things can happen:
- Bronchospasm: The muscles around the airways contract (tighten). When they tighten, your airways narrow. Air cannot flow freely through the narrowed airways.
- Inflammation: The lining of your airways becomes swollen. Swollen airways don’t let as much air in or out of your lungs.
- Mucus production: During the attack, your body creates more mucus. This thick mucus blocks the airways.
When your airways tighten, you make a sound called wheezing when you breathe, a sound your airways make when you exhale. You might also hear an asthma attack called an exacerbation or flare-up. This is the term used when your asthma is not controlled.
What types of asthma are there?
Asthma is divided into types based on the cause and severity of symptoms. Health care providers identify asthma as:
- Intermittent: This type of asthma comes and goes so you can feel normal between asthma flare-ups.
- Persistent: Persistent asthma means you have symptoms most of the time. Symptoms can be mild, moderate or severe. Healthcare providers base the severity of asthma on how often you have symptoms. They also take into account your ability to do things during an attack.
Asthma has several causes:
- Allergic: Some people allergies can cause an asthma attack. Allergens include things like mold, pollen, and pet dander.
- Not allergic: External factors can cause an asthma flare-up. Exercise, stress, illness and weather conditions can cause a flare-up.
Asthma can also be:
- Appearance in adulthood: This type of asthma begins after the age of 18.
- Pediatric: Also called childhood asthma, this type of asthma often begins before age 5 and can occur in infants and toddlers. Children can recover from their asthma. You should be sure to discuss this with your provider before deciding whether your child needs an inhaler available in case of an asthma attack. Your child’s healthcare provider can help you understand the risks.
Additionally, there are these types of asthma:
- Exercise-induced asthma: This type is triggered by exercise and is also called exercise-induced bronchospasm.
- Occupational asthma: This type of asthma mainly affects people who work near irritating substances.
- Asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome (ACOS): This type occurs when you have both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)). Both illnesses make breathing difficult.
Who can suffer from asthma?
Anyone can develop asthma at any age. People who are allergic to or exposed to tobacco smoke are more likely to develop asthma. This includes second-hand smoke (exposure to someone else who smokes) and second-hand smoke (exposure to clothing or surfaces in areas where someone has smoked).
Statistics show that people assigned female at birth tend to have more asthma than people assigned male at birth. Asthma affects black people more frequently than other races.
