The genetic basis of asthma heritability has been extensively studied and the studies are yielding some understanding. There is, as yet, no set genetic pattern that predicts presence of asthma or defines it severity. There are usually reasons or risk of asthma factors that makes someone susceptible to asthma and respiratory allergy problems. Asthma doesn’t just happen randomly to anyone without asthma gene factors risk factors.

Let’s consider some asthma risk factors and see how they increase the chance that a individual will have the asthma signs or symptoms of cough, wheezing, as well as shortness of breathing associated with the disease. After determining your personal risk factors for asthma, decide on the ones you can control as well as try to make some lifestyle changes. Avoidance of the risk factors you can control is important in preventing asthma symptoms. While you cannot change your own gender to family history, you can avoid smoking with asthma, breathing polluted air, and obesity. Take control of your asthma by controlling the asthma risk factors. By understanding all of the risk factors, you are able to prevent to control your asthma.

Genetic factors cannot explain the rise in asthma prevalence, morbidity, or mortality. However, a small change in the prevalence of relevant environmental exposures could explain a significant rise in disease prevalence among genetically susceptible individuals. Gene-environment interaction, defined as the co-participation of genetic and environmental factors, is particularly relevant to the etiology of asthma morbidity, especially in individuals who experience a disproportionate burden of environmental exposures. Relevant exposures include smoking, stress, nutritional factors, infections, allergens, and occupational asthma exposures. In addition, racial/ethnic variability in the distribution of genetic polymorphisms can potentially modify the response to pharmacotherapeutic agents, such as the ß 2 -adrenergic receptor. A genetic polymorphism in the ß 2 -adrenergic receptor gene has been associated with asthma severity, as well as with the susceptibility to develop asthma among individuals who smoked.

Childhood asthma happens more frequently in boys than in girls. It is still not known precisely why this occurs even though some experts find a young male’s airway size is small compared to the female’s airway, that may contribute to increased risk of wheezing after a cold or perhaps other viral infection. Around age 20, the ratio of asthma between people is the same. At age 40, more females than men have adult asthma.

The inherited genetic makeup predisposes you to having asthma. In fact, it’s thought that three-fifths of all asthma cases are hereditary. Based on CDC report, if a person has a parent with asthma, there is 3 to 6 times more probably to develop asthma than someone who does definitely not have a parent with asthma.

With the help of well-trained and experienced pulmonary function technicians, children as young as 4 to 5 years of age should be capable of performing spirometry. Spirometry measures forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ), the ratio of FEV 1 /FVC, as well as other measures of airflow including the forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF 25–75 ). The FEV 1 is the most commonly used and reproducible measure of pulmonary function, whereas the FEF 25–75 demonstrates much more intrapatient variability. (more…)

Increasing evidence demonstrates that cytokines of Th1 and Th2 cells play important roles in allergic disorders. This study examined polymorphisms in the IL-12B gene, a primary inducer of the development of Th1 cells with downregulation of the Th2 cytokines. The exons, splice sites and portions of the 5” and 3” flanking regions of the IL-12B gene were sequenced and 13 polymorphisms identified. A case–control study of Japanese children (297 cases) with asthma stratified by asthma-related phenotypes was conducted on a subset of three of these SNPs. The functional effects of the identified polymorphisms were examined using luciferase and RNA stability assays. (more…)

How to properly make clinical diagnosis of acute severe asthma? There is little doubt of the accuracy of current asthma testing. This is because most patients had bring out an established asthma diagnosis from prior regular asthma treatment, before presenting it to Asthma Emergency Department. We can see that most of patients had physical presentation: sitting up right, had profusely diaphoretic, only manage to speak only a few words at a time, and obvious respiratory distress. We can see varying respiratory rate on most patients. Hyperventilating is common in proportion to the severity of asthma attack. On the other hand, patients with hypoventilation is an indication of impending respiratory arrest. (more…)