Hazardous Symptoms and Causes of Asthma - Dissertation Example

? Contents Contents Introduction 2 Environmental Health Hazards 3 Asthma 4 Risk factors 5 Asthma Triggers 7 Prevention 7 Bibliography 13 Introduction Since the beginning of this world, we are striving to protect health of our kind and other living beings. In the days of romans, people disposed off the human waste to protect public health. Then on, from vaccination of small pox to removing dead bodies in case they caused infectious diseases to mitigating other infectious diseases, our early history is full of efforts by people concerned for public health. The modern history is full of great discoveries like germ theory, inventions like vaccines, cures of diseases like polio, observations of microorganisms, control of sexually transmitted diseases, practice of cleanliness, increased awareness of diseases and promotion of healthy habits like proper sanitation, family planning, drinking clean water etc. (Holmes) Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" (Winslow, 1920). It focuses on improving health of communities, groups of people and preventing from diseases. It may include curing from diseases, finding ways to prevent from them, making people aware of the diseases and taking measures to contribute to healthy lifestyles. There can be many reasons for different diseases. Some are sexually transmitted diseases like HIV AIDS, many are infectious like small pox, and few are caused due to lack of providing medicines at early stage of life like polio, whereas some are caused by environmental hazards. Environmental Health Hazards At every interaction with the environment, we are in contact with numerous health hazards that are caused by different pollutants and harmful substances. What we feed to our environment is given back to us in the form of diseases and other health hazards. Environmental hazards are caused by chemical waste from industries, harmful substances used in these industries, land degeneration, ozone depletion, nuclear issues, over population, harmful substance used at our homes, poor sanitation, and emission of harmful gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Domestic and hazardous waste cause serious diseases. These wastes are divided into two categories: municipal waste by domestic activities & industrial waste by industrial activities. Municipal waste causes problem for ordinary human being if it is not disposed off in the right way. Industrial waste can cause damage to the workers in the industry as well as common man. Water contamination again causes water-borne diseases that might lead to morbidity and mortality. Clean drinking water is rare in the world. Most people do not enjoy clean water and have to quench their thirst with contaminated and polluted water. This is a very increasing concern of environmental health in entire world. Another way of causing environment related health problems is the air toxicants. Huge amounts of carbon Dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide in our air are harmful for our health. A large part of air pollutants is caused by the emissions from automobiles. Besides these, in our everyday life we see consumer products full of harmful substances. Lead is one example. Lead is present in many consumer products especially paint. The manufacturers of these products put such harmful substances without realizing the high level of human interaction with these products. (Nweke & William, 2009) Children come into direct contact with environmental toxicants such as lead, methyl mercury, tobacco and other pollutants. These pollutants enter children’s bodies via placental transfer during fetal growth, inhalation of dust, breast milk and other dietary sources during early childhood. (Landrigan et al, 1998) One of the threats from these environmental hazards is asthma in children. It is more common in children because they have smaller airways. Asthma Asthma causes the airways of the lungs to swell and narrow, which leads to shortness of breath, coughing, chest tightness and wheezing. It is caused by inflammation in airway mucosa. Asthma is a significant and increasing problem in public health. According to research conducted by World Health Organization, approximately 300 million people suffer from asthma worldwide, with 250,000 deaths annually attributed to the disease. (World Health Organization, 2007). It is also estimated that the number will grow by 100 million by 2025. 34.1 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma in a lifetime of a health professional. (American Lung Association, 2007). Another research shows that approximately 20 million US people suffer from asthma, 9 million out of which are children (Bloom et al, 2006). The people facing asthma mainly belong to low income or middle income groups. (Postma et al, 2009) According to a study in 2007 by Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, asthma accounts for almost 13 million school absences and restricts students from sports and other extracurricular activities. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). Furthermore asthma is the third largest reason in US for children to be hospitalized and use emergency rooms, clinics and private health facilities. (Davis et al, 2011) Risk factors Usually asthma is triggered by allergy causing substances including animal hair, pollens, molds and dust; irritants such as cigarette smoke and air pollutants; change in weather; and chemicals in the air. Sometimes it is triggered by exercise, strong emotions (stress), and respiratory infections. (Zieve & Hadjiliadis, 2011) Research has shown that children from lower income areas are more prone to develop asthma. This is because they come in direct contact with harmful substances and there are no actions taken when the symptoms of asthma arise. This problem disrupts the schooling of these children as they lead to children getting absent from school and even feeling fatigue while they are in the classrooms. (Halterman, Aligne, & Auinger, 2000) It is hard to cure asthma, but it is possible to control its symptoms and reduce or pacify asthma attacks. Asthma attacks occur when asthma symptoms get worse than usual. These attacks lead to serious inability to perform normal routine activities and children who face them miss schools and feel tired throughout the day. This problem is increasing day by day because of lack of awareness among children and their parents. They do not even know the symptoms of the disorder and neither know how harmful it is. In order to find a cure to these symptoms, they first need to know the symptoms clearly. Symptoms of Asthma Asthma as mentioned earlier related to breathing problems, which can be in a form of: Feeling out of breath Short of breath Gasping for air Faster breathing than normal Having trouble breathing out Other symptoms in children may include Coughing (especially at night) Dark circles Fatigue Irritability Tightness in the chest Wheezing These symptoms mostly occur at night. Different children have invariably different levels of asthmatic attacks and can be triggered in different ways. Above mentioned are some of the major symptoms that can indicate if a child has asthma. (Kaneshiro, 2011) Asthma Triggers As we have already discussed that one of the main reasons for asthma is indoor environment. This environment mainly has dust, cigarette smoke, dampness and mold, pet animal hairs, and cockroaches which can trigger asthma in children. The more sensitive individuals develop severe disease because of this indoor environmental hazard. ( Sears et al, 1993) Researchers and community health workers over the period of time have been finding ways to reduce the symptoms of asthma and lower the exposure of substances that can trigger this disease. These researchers carry out different assessments to see the cause and effect of these triggers and level of asthmatic disease among children. A survey indicates that parents consider outdoor dust as a dominant trigger. The dust that come from new roads and motor vehicles, in their opinion cause the most damage. (Farquhar et al, 2005). Many parents in a recent survey indicated that weather/climate based triggers are more common and approximately one-third parents of that study consider air pollution as a dominant trigger. (Grineski, 2009) Prevention A few studies have shown that interventions in indoor environmental hazards can reduce symptoms of Asthma in children. This is done through reduction of exposure with single triggers such as dust mite antigen and smoke. But such an act does not give a solution to globally reduce the overall indoor triggers of Asthma. (Institute of Medicine, 2000). Most patients are allergic to different substances and therefore there is need for global reduction in Asthma triggers. In our indoor environment, dust largely causes Asthmatic attacks. The American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology has recommended that physicians incorporate allergen avoidance measures in therapeutic plan for chronic allergic asthma patients (Eggleston & Arruda, 2001). They along with other researchers and institutes have recommended reduction of multiple exposures. For example, moisture reduction impacts both mold and dust mites, and vacuuming deep dust from the carpet leads to an allergen reservoir. With the help of vacuum cleaners now, deep dust is removed from the carpets as they suck all the dust that is dug deep into them and do not only remove the surface dust. (Takaro, Krieger, & Song, 2004) When we discuss the prevention of such triggers, a huge responsibility lies on the parents. Sadly most of the parents are not aware of any prevention measures and they do feel helpless in such situation. According to the study (Grineski, 2009), in order to minimize the effect of these triggers, parents who are concerned about this issue and are ready to take some measures in order to prevent asthma triggers used four strategies. 1- Modify the child’s activities 2- Modify home environment 3- Move to another home 4- Collective action of all of the above Apart from parents, many schools and other institutes are participating in prevention of asthma. These organizations provide nurses, child screening and educating and support programs for children. With the help of these institutions and parents’ efforts, asthma symptoms can be minimized. Open Airways Open Airways is one such project by American Lung Association to make children aware of asthma symptoms and to prevent them. It is a school based curriculum that empowers and educates the children to self-manage their asthma, in a fun and interactive way. The project teaches children between the ages of 8-11 to detect the symptoms, avoid triggers, know their medicine and make decisions for their health. The project aims to 1- Develop a sustainable, community-based asthma reduction curriculum (resource) for the children. 2- Improve asthma management skills for children who are most at risk. 3- Reduce levels of asthma related ED visits and hospitalization The program is designed to reach the children in schools as it is the easiest and cost effective way of reaching children from all backgrounds, family incomes and parents’ history of asthma. The program contains six 40 minutes group lessons for school children with asthma, held in their school days. The trained instructors use games, stories, discussions, role plays and other interactive methods to promote the awareness of asthma in children in a fun and learning environment. The topics that are covered in the program are: Basic information about asthma Recognizing and managing asthma symptoms Using medication to minimize the effect Avoiding asthma triggers Getting enough exercise Doing well at school These learning sessions are supported by toolkits provided by the open airways to school nurses, trained instructors, volunteers, children and parents. The instructors get the detailed curriculum guide, posters and activities handouts. Children are also provided with material to take home and show to their parents. Parents/guardians/caregivers are also provided with presentations and guides to provide information and strategies for managing their child’s asthma. Therefore In this process schools, children, instructors and parents altogether make efforts for creating a learning experience of this severe disorder. Open Airways Success Initially the organization conducted a study with a diverse group of 239 children from 12 elementary schools in parts of New York. Children who completed this study actively self-managed their asthma, had less asthma attacks and improved school performance. Parents also took more steps to manage asthma. Other school children who did not suffer from asthma supported and helped the children who suffered from it. Open airways is the most widely known and effective program for managing asthma in US. Since its inception 10 years back, it has reached thousands of children with asthma in 40,000 elementary schools. It has been approved and recommended by various organizations that include National Association of School Nurses and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has also been honored by Health Education Research Award from National Asthma Education Prevention Program (NAEPP). The children who have participated in Open Airways for schools have fewer severe asthma attacks, improve performance in academics and extra curriculum activities, increased level of confidence, and are able to take effective decisions for asthma management. Recommendations Throughout the paper we have read different symptoms of asthma, the substances that trigger it and measures taken by parents, health related institutes in order to prevent it. Following are some recommendations for parents, to help them in quest of their asthma-free life for their children. 1- Parents & school nurses should learn more and more about asthma, also teach the children about this disease. 2- Be aware of the warning signs or symptoms 3- Find out ways how others get aware of warning signs 4- Learn what triggers asthma 5- Encourage kids to learn how to control their triggers 6- Keep their child away from triggers or remove them completely 7- Do not smoke or let anyone smoke near their child 8- Wash their beddings, use dust free pillows, vacuum your carpets, and use washable stuff toys in order to protect their child from dust mites. 9- Keep their pets away from children. Encourage the child to play with it without touching it or getting very close. Also do not let the pets enter the child’s room 10- Get rid of cockroaches by keeping the kitchens, washroom, dustbins etc. clean 11- Fix leaks as soon as possible to keep mold from growing 12- Make sure they do not have too much Nitrogen Oxide coming out of their kitchen stove 13- Make sure their child plays outside in a healthy environment. Do not send him outside very frequently if outside pollution is triggering his asthma. 14- Make sure they keep chemical irritants away from your child 15- In all cases, always consult a doctor. Conclusion Environmental hazards are a part of our everyday life. They pose a huge threat to our health and that of our children. In today’s world these threats are increasing due to high usage of harmful substances in our everyday products and air pollution. Asthma in children is also increasing very rapidly. Although we cannot cure asthma completely, we can at least minimize the effect, be aware of the symptoms and see what triggers. By following healthy practices, we can help prevent children from suffering because of this disease. Bibliography American Lung Association. (2007). Epidemiology & Statistics Unit, Research and Program Services. Trends in Asthma Morbidity and Mortality. American Lung Association. (n.d.). About OAS. Retrieved November 7, 2011, from http://www.lungusa.org/lung-disease/asthma/in-schools/open-airways/about-oas.html American Lung Association. (n.d.). Why Use OAS. Retrieved November 7, 2011, from http://www.lungusa.org/lung-disease/asthma/in-schools/open-airways/why-use-oas.html Bloom, B., Dey, A., & Freeman, G. (2006). Summary health statistics for U.S. children:National Health Interview Survey,2005. National Center for Health Statistics, Vital & Health Statistics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). Health topics: Asthma. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Davis, D. W., Gordon, M. K., & Burns, B. M. 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(2011, May 1). Asthma. Retrieved November 5, 2011, from Medline Plus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000141.htm Read More