Dust in school classrooms is to be analysed in a nationwide study to fight asthma and other allergies.

Ireland has 470,000 asthma sufferers – the fourth-largest number in the world and over 80% of children with allergic asthma are sensitive to house dust mites which exist in every household.

Dr Pat Manning, chairman of ASI’s medical committee said: “This study will help us raise awareness around asthma and devise strategies to treat the condition and reduce its occurrence in Ireland.”

Dyson will also allow access to its research facilities and scientific expertise in the UK for the survey.

The firm has already carried a similar international study – the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC).
As long as you continue to overbreathe, you will always have asthma and the products above will only temporarily alleviate your symptoms.

Medicaid-insured families face unique barriers to asthma management, including income level and insurance limitations. Researchers from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, evaluated focus group responses from 36 primary caregivers of children with asthma who were currently using or previously used Medicaid insurance.

A specific gap also was seen in the caregiver’s level of self-efficacy to control exposure to asthma triggers, monitor the child’s symptoms, and modify medications based on asthma symptoms.

To overcome these barriers, researchers suggest that physicians employ strategies that demonstrate to patients and caregivers that decisions for care are not based on the type of patient insurance. The study appears in the March issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Asthma and Neighborhood

Educational level, housing status and other socioeconomic factors are thought to affect the health of people with asthma, but a new study finds that one’s neighborhood and surrounding area may also play a significant role, even after taking into account personal economic well-being.
While study findings showed worse health and poorer quality of life among people living in lower-income areas, they also showed poorer lung function among those living in suburbs, where people tended to own newer homes in less densely populated neighborhoods.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, is published in the January issue of the European Respiratory Journal.
The analysis did not pinpoint exposures that might be linked to these population effects, but most researchers believe water-damaged housing stock, proximity to high traffic flow, industrial pollution, and social environmental stress are key contributors to health problems in poorer neighborhoods. The study raises the possibility that more frequent household pet ownership may be one factor in lower lung function in suburban-related health exposures, although larger backyards with more allergenic plants could be a contributor.
“Our research could be subtitled ‘No Man is an Island,’” said Paul Blanc, MD, UCSF professor of occupational and environmental medicine and lead author of the study. “The study findings underscore that asthma is a complex problem that does not simply affect people in isolation.”
“Even if individual risk factors such as poor access to medical care can be overcome, different communities have different asthma patterns, and strategies for prevention and treatment must take this into account,” he said.
Blanc cites the need for studies to nail down the community-wide physical and social environmental factors that contribute to asthma and poorer respiratory health.
The study examined the respiratory health and self-reported socioeconomic status of more than 400 adults suffering from either asthma, chronic nasal or sinus conditions, or both. Most of the people live in northern California. Participants had previously been interviewed at least once as part of the researchers’ on-going study. Some were also visited in their homes in order to directly assess their health status and environment.
The investigators were able to use computer mapping of residential location, a process known as geocoding, in order to link interview data with general U.S. census information for each person’s surroundings. In this way they could characterize different area-wide socioeconomic factors such as percentage of home ownership, population density, average incomes, number of single-parent households, and local unemployment rates. By combining these factors, the investigators saw a strong link between the socioeconomic status of the area and health measures in asthma.
“This has been seen with other diseases besides asthma, although not usually as an effect over and above personal economic status,” Blanc says. “Where we live doesn’t predict our fate, but it surely links to our health. We should identify the key environmental agents and work to decrease how much people are exposed to them in their daily lives.”
 

Asthma is a disease of civilisation. Hot houses, overeating, processed foods, increased stress level and lack of exercise all cause hyperventilation. So, if you live in a wealthy economy, the incidence of asthma increases.