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Around 8 million people suffer from asthma in Germany alone, and well over 300 million worldwide. And spring is a particular challenge for asthmatics and their families. A pulmonologist explains what can help those affected …
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Sudden coughing fits, shortness of breath, exhaustion – asthmatics have to reckon with all of this in everyday life. This not only limits, it also creates uncertainty. An anxiety that can affect chronic respiratory disease sufferers through the possibilities of modern lung medicine and treatment methods.
“Asthma is usually easy to treat,” says Prof. Dr. med. Calm Claus new ear. The lung expert is chief physician of pneumology and respiratory medicine at the Schillerhöhe clinic in Gerlingen, which belongs to the Robert Bosch Hospital. The latest medical technology is used here – and this can give patients new hope for a carefree everyday life.
BUNTE.de: Prof. Dr. med. New ear, how much are asthmatics restricted in everyday life?
Prof. Dr. med. New tube: Asthma is a very common disease, but it is very treatable. Our goal is that all asthma patients can live their lives as normal as they want and not have to deal with the asthma disease. This also applies to sporting activities and the like. If a patient has restrictions in this regard, we doctors try to optimize them accordingly.
One aspect is certainly that access to nature is mostly restricted in the course of urbanization for many people.
How has the situation around the disease changed in recent years?
If you look back in the western industrialized countries for about twenty to thirty years, you have seen a greater increase in asthma since then. This applies to all ages, but especially to younger patients. This in turn is directly related to an increase in allergy levels. Because asthma is part of an allergological complex, which also includes hay fever, for example. All in all, these diseases appeared more often – also in children. But the curve has flattened somewhat in recent years and has stabilized at a high level. In other words, it affects a lot more people in absolute terms today, but there is no longer an explosive rate of growth.
How can this process be explained?
It is not quite clear yet. One aspect is certainly that access to nature is mostly restricted in the course of urbanization for many people. It is known from older studies that what would have protected many people from asthma would have been a low social status – for example growing up on a farm. Getting in touch with nature early and spending a lot of time outdoors has become less common today. And interestingly, there is an increase in asthma in parallel.
For a better quality of life: How to become your own asthma manager …For asthmatics, it is a regular part: breath analysis at the doctor’s. It reveals the state of the disease, the success of treatment, but also gaps in therapy. A device revolution could now make everyday life significantly easier for patients. What is behind it? At the doctor’sIn order to be able to make statements about the degree of inflammation of the lungs, the so-called FeNO measurement on a special measuring device, for example Vivatmo pro from Bosch Healthcare Solutions, is used by the doctor. By blowing into the device, the exhaled air is analyzed to determine how much fractional nitrogen oxide (FeNO) is contained. “The value is a marker for inflammation of the respiratory tract, i.e. an inflammation, especially an eosinophilic inflammation. Eosinophils are a subgroup of white blood cells. The value is particularly increased in allergic asthma – for example on pollen – and in eosinophilic asthma,” explains Prof. Dr. med. New tube. “Studies have shown that an FeNO value of over 25 ppb (parts per trillion) firstly supports the diagnosis that it is allergic asthma and secondly suggests that the therapy must be optimized.” At homeWhat can patients do who want to check their disease status at short notice? With the Vivatmo system, Bosch answers this question in the form of the world’s first patient device for asthmatics: Vivatmo me enables measurements at home – and can therefore bring more certainty about the disease, the acute degree of inflammation of the airway and the success of therapy. This can provide more security in everyday life. For both the patient and the doctor: Vivatmo me can be connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth so that the measurement data can be read out in an app, thus making the medical history easier for the doctor too. Become your own asthma manager: Find out more about the Vivatmo system here! |
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Overweight, for example, plays a crucial role, especially for women.
How can more regular measurements help patients?
Typically, when taking medication correctly, one should recognize that the value is decreasing or normalizing. If you then measure regularly, you can quickly see whether the risk of poorer asthma control increases again. That would be a reason to check whether you are doing the inhalation correctly and at all – after all, people tend to skip the medication when they are well. If the value is high, but you are fine, you should not leave out the medication if possible. The studies that identified the FeNO measurement as an important component in diagnostics and therapy setting have so far only been carried out by measurements at the doctor or in the clinic. Studies have not yet shown whether this works just as well if the patients take the measurement themselves. Self-control is also important. Questions that are known from the so-called asthma control test (ACT), which is used internationally, can help you to get a feeling for your own state of health – and keep it.
What role do living habits play in the success of treatment?
Overall, asthma control gets worse when you do what is commonly referred to as an “unhealthy lifestyle”. Overweight, for example, plays a crucial role, especially for women: overweight, young women are remarkably difficult to treat. It is not yet known exactly why. What is certain, however, is that these patients do not respond well to anti-inflammatory cortisone therapy, and that they also gain more weight with cortisone treatment, which means that they also get bad air. Smoking also has an impact. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that asthmatics smoke just as often as non-asthmatics. And it is also known that a low socio-economic status has disadvantages for improvement. Malnutrition, lack of exercise, sports and training often go hand in hand with this.
What should parents watch out for if asthma has occurred in their child’s immediate family?
If you have an illness in the closest relatives, the close blood relatives also have an increased risk. So parents should be sensitized here. However, the following also applies: Children and toddlers in particular can have a variety of reasons why they have difficulty breathing, cough heavily or are very susceptible to infection. From a pneumological point of view, it is important that the actual cause is “cleverly” clarified by a pediatric pneumologist. Lung diseases due to prematurity and the like can also be behind this. There are many tests for small children, but the test for pulmonary function is only possible from early primary school age because the children have to work very differently here. So my advice to parents would be: If the child shows significantly different symptoms than the other comparison children in daycare or school, it should be reasonably clarified whether asthma is actually the cause.
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