DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF ASTHMA IN PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN

By

DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF ASTHMA IN PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN

INTRODUCTION

Children who live in poverty face many mental and physical health problems: “higher mortality rate due to infections, dental caries, chronic ear infections, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and poor school performance” (Shah, Kahan, & Krauser, 1987, p.485). One of the reasons for these problems appears to be the basic necessities of a human being which is adequate nutritious food (Schmidt, 1999, pp. 116). In a 2001 article, Alaimo studied the impact of food insufficiency and health problems among US preschool and school aged children. “One study, the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project, conducted from 1992 through 1994, showed that poor hungry children were more likely than poor but not hungry children to suffer from health problems such as frequent colds, ear infections, anemia, asthma, and frequent headaches” (Ramos, 2011, pp. 150).Children who don't receive adequate nutrition essential for their growth are most likely to also have weight issues like obesity which could lead to health problems. This is usually because “children of low income families are usually fed lower quality diets, which consists of more refined carbohydrates and fewer meats, fruits, and vegetables”. There also seems to be a correlation between lack of knowledge of the parts of the parents and types of food selection. Most of the parents of these children are likely to be single parent that are less likely to have graduated from high school and more likely to be an adolescent (Zacharyczuk, 2011).

An accurate diagnosis of asthma is important to prevent the substantial morbidity and mortality associated with undertreatment of this disease. Clues to the diagnosis of asthma in a child include a history of cough that is worse at night; recurrent wheezing, difficulty in breathing, and chest tightness; and the presence of audible wheezing or a high-pitched sound on exhalation. The symptoms often worsen with exercise, viral respiratory infections, exposure to allergens or irritants, changes in weather, and strong emotional responses. Spirometry is recommended for all children older than 4 years in whom the diagnosis of asthma is being considered. Once the diagnosis has been made, the severity of a child's asthma should be assessed before initiating therapy. In this initial assessment, asthma severity is classified as intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent, or severe persistent based on the frequency of symptoms (Rabe, 2004, pp. 114).

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The results of this study will be significant for both, the doctors, as well as the patients. This is said because of the fact that it is not possible for the doctor to always be with the patient having asthma problem. Therefore, in order to deal with the asthma attack at any time, it is important to have some sort of a medicine or a drug that the patient can use when he has the attack. Once this study is conducted, it will allow the doctors to analyze the results of this study and suggest his or her asthma patients to have the best inhaler ...