What is asthma? How to prevent it? Learn about → in one article
Today is the 25th World Asthma Day, and the theme of this year's World Asthma Day is "Caring for Every Asthma Sufferer". It is understood that in recent years, with the influence of factors such as environment and diet, asthma patients have increased year by year.
Asthma is a common respiratory disease, because it is difficult to cure, it is listed by the World Health Organization as one of the four major stubborn diseases. Asthma is divided into classic asthma and atypical asthma, and although the pathological mechanism is the same, the clinical manifestations are very different.
Ma Yanliang, chief physician of the respiratory department of Peking University People's Hospital: In addition to the particularly typical and severe asthma, there are actually many atypical forms, such as cough variant asthma is very common, there is also a kind called chest tightness variant asthma, and some rare asthma that we can call insidious asthma, usually there may be basically no performance, but he may also be positive if he does a challenge experiment.
According to experts, about one-third of chronic cough patients actually suffer from cough variant asthma, only coughing without wheezing, dry cough continuously, resulting in patients thinking that it is a cold, or being misdiagnosed as chronic bronchitis, taking a large number of antibiotics and cough drugs but not improving, some patients will develop typical asthma in the later stage. Chest tightness variant asthma is the only or main symptom of chest tightness, which is combined with obstructed breathing, similar to COPD, but has diagnostic features of asthma. The number of potential patients with atypical asthma is large, people with a family history of asthma, chronic cough greater than 8 weeks, and nocturnal exacerbations should be taken seriously, unexplained chest tightness should also be noted, and if necessary, should go to the hospital for bronchial challenge test or bronchodilation test.
Prevention and treatment of asthma must first control allergic rhinitis
Experts say that the occurrence of asthma is closely related to allergies, especially allergic rhinitis and asthma are diseases in an airway and often accompany them.
According to a survey by the Respiratory Disease Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, 20%-38% of allergic rhinitis patients in China have asthma, and 80% of asthma patients have suffered from allergic rhinitis. Experts introduced that allergic rhinitis is a high-risk factor for the development of asthma, and the treatment of allergic rhinitis can reduce the symptoms of asthma and reduce the incidence of asthma.
Ma Yanliang, chief physician of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital: The nose is the upper respiratory tract, asthma is actually the trachea, is the lower respiratory tract, the upper and lower respiratory tract itself is actually connected, allergic rhinitis if not concerned, this inflammation may slowly develop down, will merge into asthma, so it is necessary to pay attention from the early stage to treat allergic rhinitis. If the two are combined, and there is rhinitis and asthma, then it can not only treat asthma, it must be rhinitis and asthma together, in order to truly control these two diseases completely.
Experts introduced that pollen, dust mites, animal fur, cold and warm air alternately may trigger allergic rhinitis and asthma, patients should test the allergen after diagnosis, daily life as much as possible to avoid. In addition, asthma is hereditary, and people with a family history of asthma are 2 to 5 times more likely to develop asthma than people with no family history. Once asthma is diagnosed, carry medication with you and wear a mask if necessary.
Ma Yanliang, chief physician of the respiratory department of Peking University People's Hospital: The protection of the respiratory tract is very important. The first is hypoallergenic, the second is to prevent infection, including influenza, this kind of viral infection, it is sometimes a strong predisposing factor for asthma patients, after reducing asthma attacks, in fact, the patient's lung function will not have a significant decline.
The overall control rate of asthma in urban areas in China was 28.5%
Asthma, is a genetic and environmental factors combined to occur and develop the disease, early identification of asthma symptoms and timely intervention, can effectively prevent and reduce asthma attacks, however, the current overall control rate of asthma in China is not high.
According to the survey, the overall control rate of asthma in urban areas in China is 28.5%, and 17.8% of mild asthma patients have had at least one acute attack in the past 12 months. Most of the cases can be relieved by themselves during asthma attacks, so many patients think that it is okay if they are not treated, or stop or reduce drugs without authorization, which buries huge hidden dangers for asthma patients.
Ma Yanliang, chief physician of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital: Asthma patients are not wheezing all year round, because of this intermittent attack and reversible characteristics, many people do not pay attention, only at the time of the attack to pay attention to or only to use medicine, after a long time, in fact, our airway slowly changes from a reversible change to an irreversible change. In the past, I might have coughed and wheeze and I would be fine, but as I get older and the number of seizures increases, lung function may slowly decline. Therefore, if you usually do not pay attention, once you encounter some strong stimuli, such a serious attack will actually be life-threatening.
Experts introduced that asthma is a chronic disease that requires long-term regular medication, as long as the doctor does not take the initiative to stop the drug, it should be used consistently. Long-term standardized treatment, individualized management of the whole course of the disease, 80%~90% of asthma patients can be controlled. (CCTV News Client)