The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that can be fatal. An estimated 2.7 million Canadian adults and children (ages 4 years and over) have asthma. Asthma is also an important factor in school absences and hospitalizations in children. Although 287 Canadians died of asthma in 2003, mortality rates for asthma have fallen since 1990. This coincides with various national efforts to improve control of the disease. The exact cause of asthma is not known, but it appears to result from the complex interaction of a number of factors, including: predisposing factors, such as the tendency to have an allergic reaction to foreign substances; causal factors, which may sensitize the airways (e.g. cat and other animal dander, dust mites, cockroaches or workplace contaminants); and contributing factors, which may include such things as exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy and childhood, frequent respiratory infections, and indoor and outdoor air quality. The symptoms of asthma include cough, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, and wheezing. Asthma symptoms and attacks (i.e. episodes of more severe shortness of breath) usually occur after exposure to Òtriggers.Ó Some of the common triggers are allergens, viral respiratory infections (e.g. a cold), exercise, or exposure to irritant fumes or gases. When people with asthma are exposed to triggers, the airways in their lungs become inflamed and swollen. As a result, the airways start to narrow and it becomes more difficult to breathe. During some asthma episodes or attacks, the muscles around the airways can also tighten and the airways can produce mucus. These conditions make it even harder to breathe. The presence of Òasthma-likeÓ symptoms does not always mean that someone has asthma. A diagnosis is usually confirmed by medical tests. See 'Man...' on pg. Continued from pg. There is no cure for asthma, but there are effective ways for people with asthma to manage their condition. This means preventing the onset of symptoms in response to triggers, and controlling symptoms, once they occur. People with asthma, their family members and their health care providers all play important roles in co-managing asthma. Successful asthma management depends on the following: learning about asthma and how to manage it; avoiding or controlling triggers; taking the right medicines in the right way at the right time; ongoing monitoring and follow-up to assess symptoms and response to medication, and to measure lung function; and a personalized asthma management plan.
