What is Asthma?

Important information:

Image used with permission from The Staywell Company, LLC

Asthma is a lung condition that can be controlled, but not completely cured. People with asthma have sensitive airways that react to things that don’t bother most people. These things, called triggers, can cause asthma symptoms or make them worse.

When a person with asthma is exposed to triggers:

• The walls of their airways swell and become irritated. This is called inflammation. The airways also make more mucus.

• The muscles around the airways tighten. This is called bronchospasm (bron-ko-spasm).

When the airways swell, tighten, and fill with mucus, they become narrower, which makes breathing difficult.

Triggers

Each child may have different triggers. Common triggers include:

• Infections such as colds

• Weather, temperature, or season changes 

• Exercise or vigorous activity/play

• Allergies to pollen (from trees, grass, weeds), molds, animal dander, dust mites, rodents, and cockroaches 

• Irritants such as cigarette smoke, pollution, perfume, or chemical fumes from heaters   

• Strong emotion such as laughing or crying hard

Symptoms

Asthma symptoms may occur in response to triggers or may be occurring regularly. An asthma flare or attack happens when symptoms get worse and make it harder for your child to do activities like playing, exercising, or sleeping. When asthma is well-controlled, these symptoms should be rare. 

• Coughing

• Wheezing (a high-pitched whistling sound when your child breathes out)

• Tightness or pain in the chest

• Feeling short of breath

• Nighttime cough 

Taking medicine as prescribed based on your child’s asthma action plan and minimizing triggers can help keep asthma under control. With the right plan, almost all children with asthma can, and should, participate in the activities they enjoy, including sports and outdoor play. 

Medicines

There are two types of medicine used to treat asthma:

• Long-term controller medicines help reduce airway inflammation. These are usually taken once or twice a day. They help prevent symptoms and decrease the number and severity of asthma flares.

• Quick-relief (rescue) medicines help stop symptoms when they happen, but they don't prevent symptoms or flares from happening. If your child needs this medicine often, their asthma is not well-controlled.

Key points

Controlling asthma involves:

1. Avoiding triggers 

2. Using controller medicines as prescribed

Although it is rare, children can die from uncontrolled asthma. Follow your child’s asthma action plan and work with your child’s healthcare team to manage symptoms.

Reviewed November 2024 by Shikha Saxena, MD