Many people want to know the causes of asthma but the question should be what triggers asthma. Knowing what causes asthma or better still, being able to identify triggers, could be life saving.
Asthma is one of the world’s most common long-term conditions and currently affects over 300 million people worldwide with a projection to increase by another 100 million people by the year 2025.
As a non-curable disease, management strategies are geared towards controlling the disease to reduce the associated morbidity and mortality. With a prevalence rate of 5-18% in Nigeria, asthma costs USA economy over $80 billion annually.
In a review of 68 tertiary hospitals in Nigeria in 2011, it was found out that only twenty (26) hospitals representing 38.2% of the reviewed hospitals had peak expiratory flow rate meter (PEFR) in the emergency rooms, while twenty (20) hospitals representing 29.4% had spirometer and ten (10) representing 14.7% had skin allergy test facilities.
In addition to lack/inadequate facilities and equipment’s, there is inadequate expertise to manage asthma in Nigeria. In a recent study carried out in 2015, only 34% of the respondents could perform full spirometry on patients, and none had the capacity for performing a methacholine challenge test.
Asthma can be triggered by certain factors or objects and these triggers vary from person to person. While some persons may react to few of these triggers, others may react to many.
Some of the common triggers include the allergens, irritants in the air, respiratory illness/infections, exercise, weather, medicines, stress, feelings and strong emotions amongst others.
Allergies (Allergic Asthma)
Common allergens that cause allergic asthma include dust mites, cockroach, pollens, moulds, pet dander, rodents and others.
Irritants in the Air
Irritants in the environment can bother inflamed and sensitive airways; hence, lead to asthma exacerbation. Irritants in the air are mainly second hand smoke and include the smoke from cigarettes, wood fires, charcoal grills, strong fumes, vapours, or odours (such as paint, gasoline, perfumes and scented soaps), dusts and particles in the air, chemicals and air pollution such as smog, ozone, and others
Respiratory Illness
Respiratory infections are the most common asthma trigger in children and include such infections as colds, flu (influenza), sore throats, sinus infections, pneumonia and others.
Exercise
Exercise may trigger asthma; especially in cold air. In some cases, the symptoms may not appear until after several minutes of sustained exercise. However, with proper treatment, physical activity may not need to be limited.
Weather
Changes in weather, dry wind and cold air can bring on asthma episodes.
Feeling and Expressing Strong Emotions: Strong emotions such as anger, stress, fear, excitement, laughter, yelling, crying, etc have been identified as one of the triggers of asthma because during such period, breathing changes.
Medicines
Some medicines can also trigger asthma. This occurs in those who are sensitive to medications such as aspirin, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and other medications known as beta blockers.
In addition to medicines, hormonal changes during menstrual cycle, sulphites in food (including milk, eggs, nuts, shellfish) and other medical problems like reflux may be an asthma trigger.
By Chiwuike Uba
AmakaChiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF)
