Asthma-Lung Information
More articles below:
Traffic Seems to Make Kids' Asthma Worse
Study Finds Patients Breathe Easier After Weight-Loss Surgery
Vaccine Now Misses Many Pneumococcal Infections in Kids
Smoking Bans May Be Boosting Public Health
Schools Near High-Traffic Areas Increase Kids' Asthma Risks
'Electronic Nose' Sniffs Out Asthma
Keep a record of how often you wheeze,cough,feel short of breath and/or use your “rescue” inhaler .This record helps guide your physician in making key treatment decisions.
Certain medications may worsen your asthma.These may include common pain relievers such as aspirin,ibuprofen,naproxen and beta blockers,commonly used to treat high blood pressure and migraine headaches.
Inhaled medications are the cornerstone of asthma treatment. Learning to use your inhaler correctly is essential to a successful treatment plan.
A yearly flu shot is recommended for all asthmatics.
Living With a Smoker Puts Kids at Risk for Emphysema
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are around smokers face a higher risk of early emphysema when they become nonsmoking adults, perhaps because their lungs never totally recovered from secondhand smoke exposure, new research suggests.
Researchers reached their conclusions after conducting CT scans on 1,781 non-smokers from six communities in the United States. About half of them grew up in homes with at least one smoker.
"We were able to detect a difference on CT scans between the lungs of participants who lived with a smoker as a child and those who did not," Gina Lovasi, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, said in a university news release. "Some known harmful effects of tobacco smoke are short-term, and this new research suggests that effects of tobacco smoke on the lungs may also persist for decades."
The researchers didn't find a link between childhood exposure to tobacco smoke and lung function. "However, emphysema may be a more sensitive measure of damage compared with lung function in this relatively healthy cohort," Lovasi noted.
The findings are published in the December issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on children's exposure to secondhand smoke.
DON'T HAVE Rx COVERAGE?Click Here to print out your FREE OPTIMIZERx Card and instantly begin savings on your next prescriptions!
