Asthma is a chronic lung disease that affects more than 5 million children younger than age 18, with most developing it by about age 5, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Symptoms of asthma in children include coughing, persistent cold, wheezing or whistling sound when exhaling, difficulty breathing, and chest tightness. An asthmatic child will always be at risk for developing symptoms, so understanding childhood asthma will help in its prevention and treatment.
Severity
Asthma in children can range from mild intermittent episodes to severe life-threatening attacks. Symptoms of mild asthma in children may appear only as a cough, when exposed to certain triggers such as allergens or cold air or during exercise. Symptoms of severe asthma attack include extreme difficulty breathing that can cause the skin around the ribs or neck to pull in tightly. The child may gasp for air and the skin becomes sweaty and blue-tinged, notes the Merck Manual of Medical Information.
Causes
Children with asthma have an immune system that becomes hypersensitive when exposed to certain triggers that otherwise would cause only minor irritation in other children without asthma. The airways become inflamed and produce excessive amounts of mucus inside the tubes. At the same time, notes the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, the muscles surrounding the airways tighten and cause the airways to narrow even further. These adverse immune reactions can lead to everything from mild wheezing to severe difficulty breathing.
Triggers
Certain substances in the environment can make asthma worse. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, common triggers of asthma symptoms in children include inhaled allergens in dust mites, molds, outdoor pollen animal dander, cockroach feces and feathers. Symptoms of asthma may flare up in infants with food allergies. Other triggers include exposure to tobacco smoke, perfumes, cleaning products, scented candles, pollution, strong odors, irritating fumes, cold air and during exercise. Respiratory viruses and common colds are also common triggers of asthma in infants and toddlers.
Treatments
There is no cure for asthma, but the symptoms may be controlled or prevented with the proper treatment. Short-acting bronchodilators relax the airways muscles and opens up the airways, providing quick-relief of asthma symptoms. Long-term control medications such as inhaled corticosteroids prevent the airways from becoming inflamed, so they reduce the frequency and severity of attacks. Physicians may recommend the combined use of different types of long-term and short-term drugs for persistent asthma to effectively treat the different causes of asthma, according to the Merck Manual of Medical Information.
Diagnosis
A doctor may suspect asthma in children with repeated episodes of wheezing or cough, especially those with a family history of asthma or allergy. Children ages 6 years and older take lung function tests that measures the airflow in the lungs and how well the child can exhale. According to MayoClinic.com, diagnosis of asthma in younger children can be difficult because they can not properly perform the tests as yet. Furthermore, infants and toddlers can not accurately express how they feel, so it is important for the parent to monitor and describe the symptoms as accurately as possible.
