Childhood Asthma

What is asthma? Asthma is a condition in which a persons airway become inflamed and narrow. Sometimes the airway can get filled with mucus due to environmental factors. Some people have different sensitivities which results in different reactions. When the airway becomes inflamed and narrow it makes it difficult for the person to breathe. There are two kinds of asthma: allergic and non allergic. Non allergic asthma can be induced by environmental factors or high intensity activity. Non allergic asthma has the greatest affect on children emotionally and behaviorally.

Asthma can go from acute symptoms to severe. Asthma can last years or become a life long condition. It is a incurable condition and medical doctors have found way to manage asthma.

The number of children suffering from asthma around the world has doubled reaching in the millions. With the age of onset averaging between 10 and 13 years old. It has been found that gender can play a significant role in asthma. Girls are more likely to have asthma than boys due to hormonal changes. There has also been a link between asthma and your genetic makeup. Parent often pass the condition to their children. people who suffer with allergies are more likely to develop asthma.

It is important to develop a asthma management program if you have been diagnosed by a medical doctor. So you are able to regain control over your life by looking out for the primary symptoms of wheezing, persistent coughing, shortness of breath, tightness of chest before it becomes a severe asthma attack.

There are many causes of asthma in children, one of them primarily being pollution. Due to the many factors that do trigger asthma, it can have an emotional and behavioral effect on children who are dealing with the condition. Children may experience depression or loneliness. They are unable to establish independence from their parents due to the fact they may be unsure of what to do if a asthma attack occurs. Which negatively affects the socialization processes and inhibits maturing. Children with asthma are likely to experience low self esteem issues due to avoiding sport activities. Children's biggest fear is they are going to have an asthma attack so they avoid any high intensity activity that would cause this. Low self esteem has a negative impact in peer relationships. Not being able to play in sports with your peers makes it hard to establish friendships. Children establish long term friendships with whom they participate in These activities with. Children with asthma get depressed and begin to feel lonely that they can not build these relationships

Another behavioral effect of asthma includes a significant drop in attendance rates. Typically children with asthma miss more school than others. Due to doctor appointments, trips to emergency room from environmental triggers. Some environmental triggers are tobacco smoke, air pollution, sinus allergies(pollen). So instead of. Constantly trying to avoid these environmental triggers when not possible there is ways to control it. Treatment consist of self care and inhalers prescribed by medical doctor. These emotional and behavioral effects can hinder children's development severely.

This article would be helpful for my group presentation by explaining what asthma is and how it affects children development. We can compare multiple environmental factors with many different countries. In Venezuela, their cooking methods, indoor heating and smoking and how it contributes to childhood asthma. In Peru their volcano activity causes pollution which is a primary cause of asthma. While looking at my article and my peers articles you can assess that there is a global issue with childhood asthma and what is being done to control it.

References

1. How asthma affects children emotionally and behaviorally: Gayle Antonacci, University of Pittsburgh, school of education 2010

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