by Jonte Rhodes

Created on: January 14, 2009

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world, affecting millions of people worldwide every day. Also many people don't tend to be familiar with what puts them at greater risk of both having asthma, and what triggers it when it does happen. Fortunately there has been a great deal of research into the area, and scientists and doctors are now beginning to fully understand asthma's causes and risk factors.

Asthma is basically a respiratory problem where the airways become inflamed and coated with mucus, which makes them narrower. This in turn makes it difficult for the sufferer to be able to breathe, and often causes panic, which tends to make the symptoms worse. Most sufferers tend to keep symptoms at bay with some form of inhalant, which causes the airways to dilate, making breathing easier again.

Asthma can run the entire spectrum from being a mild annoyance, to a life threatening illness that the patient has to constantly monitor and take medication for. Usually attacks are caused by some kind of stimulus from the air. This might be breathing in smoke, pollen, pet dander, dust, or even hot or cold air. However many attacks are also brought about by physical exertion, stress or lesser conditions such as influenza or the common cold being present in the system also.

Children born by Cesarean section have shown to be 20% more likely to suffer from asthma at some point in their lives, although the reasons why aren't fully understood yet. The theory behind this and several other risk factors is that the exposure of the children to beneficial bacteria, which might help to fight asthma, are reduced. This then makes them less able to fight irritants in the lungs, causing increased inflammation reactions, and asthma.

At least some risk of developing asthma is known to be based on a genetic predisposition to its development. There have been numerous genes associated with asthma, although not all have shown to be accurate across all population types. While research is continuing, scientists think that they will soon have isolated a number of genes which can make someone more likely to have asthma.

The most common trigger of an asthma attack is that the patient inhales something potentially harmful to them. This can be pretty much any kind of substance in the air, although things such as dust, pet dander and smoke are the most common. Similarly food allergies are another common trigger, although in these cases, usually a variety of symptoms is experienced

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