Safe Exercises for the Asthmatic Patient One of the goals of asthma treatment is to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. Getting your body in shape and keeping it that way can happen even if you are an asthmatic. It is important that your patients are getting the right amount and type of exercise to…
When you have asthma, the flu and cold season is more worrisome than for those without suffering with asthma. Viral illnesses can worsen asthma symptoms and the flu can also cause severe lower respiratory infections in asthmatics. This is because people with asthma have swollen or sensitive airways, and influenza can cause further inflammation of…
More attention should be given to patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and concomitant asthma, after a study showed that nearly one-fifth of patients with COPD fall into this subtype. Patients with overlap of the two conditions experienced poorer symptom control, had lower quality of life (QoL), and took part in…
Environmental Health Your environment is everything around you—the air you breathe, the water you drink, the community you live in, the places where your food is grown or prepared, your workplace, and your home. When your environment is safe and healthy, you are more likely to stay healthy. But when your environment exposes…
Smoking rates are different from state to state. The percentage of people with asthma who smoke ranges from about 12% in Minnesota and Utah to about 32% in Kentucky. The states with the highest percentage of people with asthma who smoke are clustered in the Midwest and South regions. CDC’s National Asthma Control…
The study found that children born to parents who sought treatment for fertility issues were more likely to experience asthma, wheezing and to be taking asthma medication at the age of 5 than children who were conceived without medical intervention. The researchers did not find that the parents’ infertility treatments caused asthma in…
COPD Spirometry is fundamental to making a diagnosis of COPD and a confident diagnosis of COPD can only be made with spirometry. However, there is no single diagnostic test for COPD. Making a diagnosis relies on clinical judgement based on a combination of history, physical examination and confirmation of the presence of airflow…
Screening smokers with spirometry for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) picks up more cases than symptom-based detection, research suggests. The authors say the findings highlight the need for more screening in primary care, which is seldom used at present. “Despite current and updated GOLD [Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease] guidelines…