There are around seven million children in the US alone who have asthma. Shockingly, over one million of these children are less than five years old! Asthma can cause children to miss school and have a serious negative impact on health. The symptoms of asthma include shortness of breath, wheezing and a sensation of tightness in the chest.
Asthma attacks may be in varying levels of severity. To learn more about the different classifications of childhood asthma and the treatments indicated for the condition, parents can contact the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, which publishes a set of asthma guidelines and works in the interest of assisting parents and children to manage the disease.
Doctors use the asthma guidelines as a way to manage a childs asthma. How they manage the asthma attacks will depend on the childs symptoms and the severity of the attacks. Doctors will monitor the childs ability to control their asthma attacks with the medications they have been prescribed.
If a child is showing signs of improvement then the doctor may decrease the medication in the hopes of being able to take the child off it completely. If the child worsens then the doctor may increase the medication or try a combination of medications to control the attacks.
The asthma guidelines outline goals for childhood asthma treatment. If the treatment being used does not improve the condition, than the physician will change the treatment regimen accordingly. Your doctor will look for certain criteria laid out in the asthma guidelines, such as whether your childs asthma is preventing them from going to school or playing with other children.
They will also look to see if the child is having any side affects from the medications. They will be looking to see if the child is exhibiting any symptoms during the day or night after they have been put on medication. This allows them to be able to gage if the treatment is controlling the asthma attacks.
The asthma guidelines have different classifications for your childs asthma. The first classification is called the mild intermittent. This is when a child shows symptoms no more than two days a week. The next level of classification is called the mild persistent. This is when the child shows symptoms maybe once everyday but at least more than twice a week.
Moderate persistent is when the child shows daily symptoms or more than one night a week. The highest level is called severe persistent. This is when the child shows daily symptoms and frequently at night as well. If your child has asthma, you should become familiar with the asthma guidelines and discuss the different classifications with your doctor.
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