All About Asthma In Infants And Children

It is unfortunate when an infant or child is diagnosed with asthma. Parents will worry because asthma in infants and children requires careful and close monitoring not only in the hospital but also at home.

Frequent visits to the doctor are required so the triggering factors as well as allergens of the infant or child can be determined. This is important obviously so that the parents can do their best to keep the child away from those triggering factors.

In most cases, asthma develops before children reach 5 years of age. Some children even develop the dreaded disease before they reach the age of three.

Among infants, 30% experience wheezing symptoms with upper respiratory tract infections. However, 70% of the infants who have had wheezing symptoms successfully lost the symptoms when they reached the age of 6. Again, these infants who experienced wheezing symptoms but then lost it when they became 6 years old are known to be "transient wheezers". They have no actual allergies; the only problem is that their lungs seem to function abnormally. The suspicion of these infants having abnormal lung function led researches to speculate that their lungs may be too small than normal and that's why wheezing is present.

It is not always easy to diagnose whether an infant has asthma or not; even doctors find it a bit challenging to rule out whether an infant or a child has asthma or is just experiencing some other minor problems in the respiratory system. It may more than just one visit to the doctor before a clear and firm diagnosis can be given to the infant or child.

The reason why doctors seem to have difficulty in diagnosing asthma in infants and children is because it is difficult to measure how well infants and children breathe. Getting an accurate reading or measurement in lung function tests entails more effort from the doctor.

Lung function tests usually involve patients taking a deep breath and exhaling it as fast as they can. This kind of test is good for measuring and determining asthmatic changes in the lungs.