Asthma: Environmental Risk Factors
Journal
Encyclopedia of Environmental Health
Pages
238-246
ISBN
9780444522726
Date Issued
2011
Author(s)
Abstract
Asthma is an allergic disease inducing chronic airway inflammation and acute attacks. Asthma not only decreases the quality of life, but also leads to life-threatening events in severe cases. The increasing prevalence of asthma is a worldwide trend both in children and adults. In the past few years, environmental interventions for asthma are shown to provide additional benefit beyond medical therapies. This article summarizes current evidences of environmental risks for asthma. The environmental factors include indoor, outdoor, and occupational agents, which are grouped into sensitizers and irritants. The sensitizers cause and trigger asthma activity through the allergic immunization process. Once human beings are sensitized, very low concentration of the specific sensitizers can evoke asthma attack. The irritants damage and stimulate airway mucosa directly without a sensitizing period. Environment-environment interactions exist due to the fact that sensitized airways are hyperresponsive to irritants, and that irritant-damaged mucosa is prone to the penetration of sensitizers. The sources and mechanisms of environmental agents causing asthma, as well as strategies for environmental prevention and remediation of risk factors are discussed in this article. ? 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Subjects
Air pollution; Asthma; Environmental intervention; Indoor air; Irritant; Occupational; Sensitizer
Publisher
Elsevier Inc.
Type
book part