Asthma Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Asthma - Research Paper Example Proper management of the disease will enable patients live a better quality of life with fewer hospitalisations. Asthma is an episodic and chronic inflammatory disease of the small airways of the lungs, characterised by intermittent airway narrowing and airflow obstruction that leads to symptoms of recurrent episodes of wheezing and shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing particularly at night and early in the morning. (Goyal & Agrawal, 2013) It causes a heavy economic burden on patients, their families and the healthcare system. It is a burden to low-income earners due to medical and drug costs. Asthma patients experience missed school or work days, medical expenses and even premature death therefore influencing their quality of life. Knowledge about the disease and its predisposing causes for development would help researchers to better target future therapies. (Bollmeier, 2013) Asthma is a complex syndrome characterised by airway hyper-responsiveness and is caused by a multicellular inflammatory reaction that leads to airway obstruction. Inflammatory and cellular infiltration of the airways is by recruitment and activation of mast cells, macrophages, antigen presenting dendritic cells, neutrophils, eosinophils and T lymphocytes. The major role in the activation of the immune system that leads to the release of many mediators such as interleukins and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor is by type 2 T helper cells. Cells and tissues in asthmatics are prone to inflammatory reactions against normally harmless substances. This inflammation can cause swelling, mucous production leading to airway narrowing. Air narrowing leads to asthma triggering symptoms. Exposure to substances that trigger reactions on the airways lead to production of IgE antibodies that help release of inflammatory mediators such as histamine and leukotrienes. These mediators cause the airway of the smooth muscles