Synonyms
Chronic bronchitis; Reactive airway disease; Recurrent bronchiolitis; Recurrent croup; Recurrent pneumonia
Definition
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by variable airflow obstruction and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. It presents with recurrent episodes of coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, and chest tightness.
Epidemiology and Genetics
Asthma has variable age and presentation at onset and variable response to therapies. Risk factors for asthma include atopy, allergen exposure, family history of asthma, prematurity, passive exposure to smoking, cigarette smoking, maternal smoking, early viral infection, male gender, shorter length of breast feeding, food allergy, and exposure to air pollution.
Data for asthma prevalence, morbidity, and mortality are published in the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and also summarized every few years in the National Surveillance of Asthma: United States from...
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Chipps, B.E., Mellon, M.H. (2016). Asthma. In: Parnham, M.J. (eds) Compendium of Inflammatory Diseases. Springer, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8550-7_97
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8550-7_97
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