Asthma: Clinical and Diagnosis Approach

Abstract

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that is characterized by recurrent episodes of cough, wheezing, and respiratory distress, especially during the night. Asthma may present a clinical spectrum that includes recurrent wheezing in infants or preschoolers, recurrent obstructive laryngitis alternated with episodes of recurrent wheezing in infants, exercise-induced asthma in teenagers, and chronic cough or recurrent pneumonia at all ages. The diagnosis is mainly clinical. It is a multifactorial condition, mainly caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. The inflammation of the airway is the result of effector cells and inflammatory mediators. The main consequence is increase of resistance of the airway with increased work of breathing caused by edema, airway cellular infiltration, increase of mucus, and bronchospasm. During the past few years, classification has considered controlled, partially controlled, and uncontrolled asthma independent of pharmacological therapy.