Nursing Assignment



Asthma: A Great Challenge to the Well-Being of 150 Million People Worldwide

Introduction

There are approximately 150 million Asthma sufferers around the world, equivalent to the population of the Russian Federation. The United Kingdom tops all the other European nations for having more asthma sufferers in Europe and is among the worst affected in the world. Asthma is a very common disease, and one out of every ten people in the world suffers from asthma, which means that about 600 million people worldwide are infected with this diseases. Asthma is a lung disease that is chronic and it aggravates and tightens the airways of a person ((Kidd et al., 2003).

The airways are the tubes that carries air in and out of the lungs, which makes it difficult to breath for an Asthmatic person because their airways becomes swollen and sensitive, the muscles around the airways become tight and makes the airway narrow, which causes reduced airflow to the lungs. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing, which is a whistling sound when a person breathes, tightness in the chest area, a shortness of breath, and coughing. Coughing mostly happens at night time or either early in the morning. The cells in the airway can possibly make more mucus than it usually does which is thick and sticky and causes the airways to get even narrower (Tzeng & Gau, 2012).

Triggers of Asthma

The causes of asthma are not exactly known, however, researchers have reasons to believe that there are genetic and environmental factors that comes into play in the early part of life and cause asthma. Quite a few times, reasons are genetics and a family history which causes this disease to transfer from generation to generation and results in inherited tendencies, viral infections in infancy, and airborne allergens, in children in the early stages of their development. The triggers of asthma can differ from person to person. Tobacco smoking or secondhand smoking are one of the most known triggers of asthma because smoking causes swelling in the airways and narrow them and as a result, people find it hard to breathe properly. Therefore, it is highly recommended for Asthmatic patients to either leave smoking or stay away from the smokers while they smoke because their smoking will also be breathed by them if they decide to stay in the same environment as smokers are (Waldron, 2007). 

Therefore anyone with asthma or has asthmatic children should not allow anyone to smoke in their home or car and should actively ensure safe and smoke free environment for themselves and their beloved ones with asthma by taking all the proactive and reactive precautionary measure at all times. Dust Mites, which can be found in almost every home in this world, are another major trigger for asthmatic attacks in the patients. Outdoor air pollution is another trigger for asthma, which is caused by industrial emissions and exhaust from automobiles. Fur of the pets is another major trigger for asthmatic related allergies therefore; people who pet animal in their ...