Asthma is a disorder of the human respiratory system in which there is swelling of principal air corridors of the lungs and bronchial tubes. It is not similar to other chronic obstructive lung diseases, as it cannot be reversed. However, it has one positive quality that it can be arrested and controlled. Actually it happens that the muscles of the bronchial walls are squeezed and the additional mucus is generated evoking the airways to be contracted. Diverse consequences are thus in the offing. They may range from small wheezing to very enormous pain in breathing. There are cases that the process becomes so much complicated and labor demanding that there is risk of safety of life. The importance of the disease can be known after the true comprehension of patterns it is able to generate in its victims. As asthma is capable of doing the resistance to the air output, that is why it is called an obstructive lung disease. It is medically called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. COPD is conglomerate of diseases, which have in their fold other diseases including the asthma.
Some people develop resistance against the disease and thus overcome it with their age and are not attacked by it any more. Other people become capable of shunning the things that are instrumental in bringing forth the asthma attack. It is but a disease which persists over a period of time and hence it is the opinion of many that a lot of care and caution is needed to manage this monster. More than half of the kids who are visisted by the disease whn they are between 2 and 10 years of age develop the resistance power and can thus successfully control the disease. Howver, asthma has the potential to fight back when the very kids reach their 30s and 40s. it is a challenging enemy ans gives a lot of tough time by bouncing back.
The better way is conventional one which pertains to suppressing the evil in the bud. There are reliable ways of the treatment of the diease which is safer and easier too. Consequently all efforts should be undertaken not to permit kids to continue to suffer from symptoms. When the breathing corridors are out of order, an attack itself is avtivated. It is a process which moves slowly but steadily. However, it may also abruptly happen. Wheezing is the most frequent symptom to be noticed. It may happen both during inhalation and exhalation. However, it must be interestingly noticed that there is not an essential relationship between wheezing and asthma. Both may exist independently without exclusion to the other. Breathing is not comfortable process for asthamic patient. Coughing is also seen. If the syptoms occur at night, one has to pass sleepless nights. The sevrity of asthama also undergoes different ranges. There are asthama with attacks frequently occuring, less frequently happening and the least frequently in esistence.
Residents who are living beside one of the biggest landfills in America are deeply worried about the respiratory health conditions in their society. Various surveys have been done to gauge the enormity and frequency of the incidence. A telephone survey based on a 30 day data collection tenure warranted response from the inhabitants of the two communities living on the Staten island. All this was done to identify the nature of respiratory illness among these residents. People living in these areas responded with enthusiasm and it was found that people of the north-shore residents were afflicted with asthma in higher numbers. “Responses were received from 541 residents of the landfill community and 289 residents the north-shore community, over 7 miles from the landfill. In addition, 449 persons living elsewhere on Staten Island responded voluntarily” (Questa journal article, Exploratory Analysis of Respiratory Illness among Persons Living near a Landfill).
Asthma is also prevalent in the portions of the New York city that contain the most of the poverty afflicted and minority inhabitants. If we correlate the socio-economic conditions with the disease there is direct relationship between the poverty and less possessed people with the disease. The poorest boroughs are afflicted with the highest incidence of the disease. The hospitalization rates in the environment there is not otherwise much circulation of wealth are higher than those in which there is comfortable flow of wealth. There is borough of Bronx, which is considered to be the poorest, and the case with it has been stated here that asthma is the fate of the residents. A study has found that it has higher asthma rates of about one and half times higher than the average in the New York City.
Socio-economic conditions have overbearing effect on the decrease or the increase of the disease. According to application of the same principal. The lowest rates have been found on the Staten Island, which has the average income higher than that of the New York City average. “The lowest hospitalization rates were found on Staten Island, which has a median income 1.3 times higher than the New York City average and Staten Island’s asthma hospitalization rate was half of the New York City average.” (NYU student and three investigators, Study links asthma, demographics). The same study reveals that the highest incidence has been found in Northern Manhattan, South Bronx, Brooklyn and Jamaica, Queens. Tulton pertains to areas with highest asthma hospitalization rates and can rightly be characterized as hot zones. Three factors have been found lying at the base of these areas.
It refers to regions with high asthma hospitalization rates as “hot zones” and found that each has three common factors. “The characteristics of these hot zones are that they are low income, have a high concentration of minorities and have a large percentage of children under 18,” the study said. Kids are also found to be most vulnerable to asthma. Within these hot zones, there is lesser availability of preventive health care and other affiliated provisions to effectively deal with the disease. This helps the disease to stay and prosper in these particular areas. In all of the areas where it is prevalent, there is felt a great need of having a management plan being supervised by physicians. “The key to reducing incidents of asthma is having [a physician-administered] asthma management plan,” the specialists said. The housing conditions are most important to gauge the level of the asthma prevailing in the region. The dilapidated housing conditions also give rise to the disease to great extent. Higher hospitalization rates are thus directly proportional to the poor housing conditions as is exemplified by the colonies that have such housing conditions.
These conditions are featured as poor system of cross of air. There is always abundant of dust there. There is highly quantity of dampness, which is the major cause of the development of mold that becomes the reason of triggering an attack of asthma. Roaches contain protein within their saliva and feces, which evoke asthma attacks in some people; however, scientists have no consensus on this theory and the reasoning put forward by it. They are deeply divided about the nature of the disease. The hot zones are also identified as unbalanced number of air polluting provisions. Environment policy is also greatly affiliated with the disease. In the areas with greater bus depots servicing diesel busses, there is greater expectancy of the disease.
For instance, the environmental policy being pursued in the New York City and other metropolitan areas in America are not transparent and fairly regulated. The studies undertaken have always brought much awareness about the demography and the disease along with the links with other important factors like housing conditions and socio-economic ones. We can move out of slumber and all studies are an urge towards reawakening. “I’m hoping to make people aware so they push for some sort of action plan where the [government] will initiate some sort of asthma awareness plan specifically targeted toward low income or minority groups, which are suffering the most,” this study further said. “The only way we can stop this from happening in our community is to organize and get political.” It also provides the rate of hospitalization in boroughs per 10000 residents. The borough, which comes at, the top is East Harlem.
There is need of complete revamping of the living conditions that prop up the diseases. We should also highly focus on the socio-economic ambience to get rid of the diseases. The housing conditions should be improved to have a better sense of living. Spacious corridors and airy ways are a must when planning architecture of the house. Living standards must be raised to have healthy effect on the population living in the worst poverty afflicted areas. Proper and modern method of treatment must be undertaken to ward off the serious consequences of the disease rather than merely acting as spectator and allowing it to play the havoc with the patient. Appropriate treatment can permit a person to overcome the disease and absence of care can worsen the situation and thus permitting forever the association of disease with the patient in hand.
References
NYU Student & Three Investigators (1999), Study Links Asthma, Demographics: washington square news. Web.
Questa journal article (2000), Exploratory Analysis of Respiratory Illness among Persons Living near a Landfill. by Sherri A. Berger, Paul A. Jones, Mary C. White; Journal of Environmental Health, Vol. 62.