City Living and Asthma: How to Cope

Over three billion people reside in modernized cities, showing that more than half of the world's population are located in an urban environment (1). Asthma on the other hand, affects more than 300 million individuals, 10% of urban residents. It is the most common chronic disease with symptoms of wheezing, cough, and difficulty breathing, due to hyper-responsive airways exhibited by the patient (2). Although developing asthma is partly genetic, certain risk factors are known to trigger patients having acute attacks and exacerbations. The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) is a group effort by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and World Health Organization to attain and preserve asthma control among those afflicted. It a valuable educational resource and majority of the risk factors it enumerates is found more in urban centers than rural ones.

Risk Factors

Contact with allergens such as pet dander from shedding animals in the household, pests like cockroaches and dust mites found in unkempt and untidy areas, mold in the bathroom walls and damp towels, pollen from blossoming flowers, industrial exhaust in factory fumes that pollute the atmosphere, tobacco smoke, particulate matter from combustion of vehicular engines, droplets coughed out from those with respiratory infection, are some of the leading risk factors contributing to the development and exacerbation of asthma, especially in city or urban living. Asthma may also be elicited as a side effect from the intake of aspirin, beta-blockers, and other drugs. The change in humidity and temperature from varying seasons also contribute to risk factors. Other factors include exercise like jogging, deep emotional stress from a very wide array of experience, and chemical irritants ranging from laundry detergent to kitchen cleaners.

Control

Despite the variety of asthma triggers present in the city, most asthmatics achieve a level of control or a state without attacks due to distancing or decreasing themselves from known triggers. Not all risk factors affect patients in the same way; some get exacerbations more because of sensitivity to temperature, some almost always have symptoms after exposure to smoke, while others have their first bout of asthma late into adulthood after a brief run in the park. Combined with a pharmaceutical regimen that is customized to the unique needs of the patient, decreased trigger exposure ensures a comfortable state of being attack-free. Asthmatics should consult with the physician as to which is best and be guided accordingly.

Life With Asthma

Upon achieving control, asthmatics should be empowered to do what other people do. They are not to be limited in what they can do. It is very good to know that many patients are successful in their fields; many known political figures, Olympic stars, and famous actors have asthma but are not hindered in performing their valued tasks.

Sources:

1. State of World Population 2007 - Online Report: United Nations, www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/introduction.html, accessed on March 8, 2011.

2. 2010 GINA Pocket Guide, www.ginasthma.com/download. asp?filename=GINA_PG_2010.pdf, accessed on March 8, 2011.