Post #36 Asthma: A Pedi Perspective - Part 4 of 5

Conundrum of causeAccording to a 2010 National Health Interview Survey by the Centers for Disease Control, more than 10 million U.S. children aged 17 years and under have ever been diagnosed with asthma, and 7 million still have it. The study shows that boys were more likely than girls to become diagnosed with asthma.Furthermore, asthma cases in children under 4-years-old increased by 160 percent between 1980 and 1994. And there's been a steady increase in the nearly two decades since then.An analysis by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality states that the percentage of children who use prescription medications for asthma has nearly doubled from 29 percent in 1997 to 58 percent in 2007.While that could simply mean we're better at diagnosing asthma and have access to better medications, it's still easy to see why asthma is considered the leading chronic illness in kids.But we don't really know why.There is definitely a genetic component to asthma.  How big a role genes play isn't clear, nor is it obvious whether or not the environment is a factor – and if so, to what extent.The "hygiene hypothesis," says that early exposure to the dirtiness of life helps prevent asthma.  If your child isn't exposed to dirt, other kids, and cold viruses early on, it leads to an imbalance in the immune system that in turn increases the risk of developing asthma.  One real-life example of this is the fact that country boys have less asthma and allergy issues than c...
Source: A Pediatrician's Blog - Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs