Asthma is a condition that affects the airways, making them highly reactive to triggers such as food, touch or inhaled substances. Asthma may cause difficulty in breathing, chest pain, coughing and wheezing.
The common triggers for asthma are smoking, dust mites, allergies and outdoor air pollution. Air pollution is one such inhalant trigger that can worsen asthma symptoms. Research has shown that children growing up in highly polluted metropolitan cities have poorer respiratory health compared to children in less polluted cities. Higher levels of air pollution can result in more severe asthma triggers, leading to a faster progression from mild to moderate or severe asthma. This can result in patients requiring higher doses of medication, even if they can usually manage their symptoms with lower levels of medication on days with lower air pollution.
While genetics plays a role in the development of asthma, the environment can also have a significant impact on the severity and timing of symptoms. For instance, if there are two identical twins with the asthma gene, but one is raised in a low allergen environment while the other is raised in a dusty environment with asthma triggers, the twin raised in the low allergen environment will likely experience milder symptoms and develop them later than the other twin.
A diagnosis of asthma is typically made by evaluating a combination of clinical symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness and breathlessness. Diagnostic tests like pulmonary function or spirometry are used where patients blow forcefully into a computerised machine called a spirometer to record certain parameters. Based on these parameters, a diagnosis of asthma can be made. If there is a significant change in lung capacity after the use of bronchodilator puffs during the spirometry test, it confirms a diagnosis of bronchial asthma.
Once asthma is developed, it would vary from mild symptoms occurring once a month to more frequently like daily. Teachers who are exposed to chalk powder, should switch to digital boards. Many people will be able to find out their main trigger factor through their own trial and error.
Healthcare providers play a crucial role in treating asthma by identifying trigger factors and offering diagnostic services such as skin-prick or blood tests. Desensitisation therapy can also be provided to desensitise patients to allergens and reduce their triggering effects. Treatment plans should be customised based on individual patient requirements, disease severity and other medical conditions.
The cornerstone of asthma management would be inhaler therapy. The treatment can be divided into medical and non medical treatments. Non medical treatment focuses on prevention while medical treatment focuses on inhaled therapies, tablets and a new class of drugs called biologics which are given as injections on the stomach like insulin shots once or twice a month. Even annual flu shots are advised to be given to patients since viral coughs can trigger asthma.
Goa's high humidity levels promote the survival of dust mites, a common asthma trigger. As a result, dust mites are more concentrated in the region. In addition, the flu season in Goa occurs during the monsoons leading to an increase in asthma attacks due to cold weather.
Asthma does have an impact on the quality of life of individuals and their families as uncontrolled asthma can lead to missed work and lower productivity in people, loss of school days for children and increased healthcare burden for adults. It is important to raise awareness in schools and ensure that children with asthma take their medications regularly to control their symptoms and participate in physical activities.
Initiatives and campaigns to raise awareness of asthma are carried out by the private health sector and the government of Goa as well, like the recent asthma awareness campaign that was conducted on Asthma Day by Healthway Hospital. The government sector and all peripheral health sectors equipped with nebulisers can offer immediate relief to all those patients who experience symptoms and are not responding to inhalers.
In conclusion, once asthma is developed, it can manifest in a range of severity levels with symptoms varying from mild and occurring infrequently to daily occurrences. The key strategy for preventing asthma attacks lies in identifying trigger factors and reducing exposure to them through effective management.
