Asthma in Check

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting nearly 5 million children in the United States. If your child is diagnosed with asthma, it is important to develop a plan to properly manage and control the disease, according to Dr. Deborah Decker, pediatrician at the Children’s Clinic of SWLA.

Children with asthma react to various triggers, such as dust, pollen or smoke, causing inflammation of their airways, which leads to labored breathing, wheezing, chest tightness, or coughing.

"With a proper management plan these children can live a normal, active life. What it takes is avoiding the triggers that make the asthma worse, keeping track of the symptoms, and sticking to an effective treatment regimen," Decker said.

Some of the common asthma triggers are:

• Infections in the airways
• Cigarette smoke
• Irritants in the air (pollens, air pollution)
• Sudden changes in weather or temperature
• House dust mites
• Animal dander
• Mold
• Emotional stress

Parents can look for patterns in their child’s illness to determine triggers that most affect the child’s asthma. Staying away from, or getting rid of these triggers will help reduce asthma symptoms.

Parents need to work with their child’s pediatrician to help determine what triggers the asthma and to develop a management plan with proper medications.

According to Decker, many children with asthma need short-term medicine for when they experience symptoms, and also long-term daily medicine that reduces inflammation in the airways and prevents asthma attacks.

"It is important to understand that asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease, which means it is there all the time even when there are no symptoms," Decker said.

The better informed parents and children are about asthma triggers and the importance of the treatment regimen, the less asthma symptoms will interfere with the child’s activities.