Clinical Profile and Triggers of Childhood Asthma among Patients Diagnosed at Paediatric Asthma Clinic
Abstract
Asthma is a major cause of chronic morbidity and mortality throughout the world and there is evidence that its prevalence has increased considerably over the past 20 years, especially in children.1 It is now estimated that as many as 300 million people of all ages, and all ethnic backgrounds, suffer from asthma and the burden of this disease to governments, health care systems, families, and patients is increasing worldwide.2 Asthma is a heterogeneous disease, usually characterized by chronic airway inflammation in which many cells and cellular elements play a significant role. It is defined by the history of respiratory symptoms such as wheeze, shortness of breath, chest tightness and cough that vary over time and in intensity, together with variable expiratory airflow limitation. In asthma the environmental and genetic factors are implicated in causation. The rapid rise in asthma during the 1980s and 1990s was too abrupt to be explained solely by change in prevalence of genetic variations.3 Even though genetic predisposition is one of the factors in children for the increased prevalence –urbanisation, air pollution and environmental tobacco smoke contribute more significantly
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