Hope for asthma sufferers who want to get active
JAKARTA (JP): Asthma is incurable but can be controlled.
Most people with the disease can still enjoy an active life without suffering its symptoms.
Characterized by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing, the disease varies in severity and frequency from one person to another.
An attack may come at any time.
Twenty-five-year-old Puspita Andrini, for instance, suffered acute asthma during childhood. Now, after several years, she doesn't suffer relapses.
"I remember having from asthma when I was still a kid. I had difficulty breathing and had to take different medications on a regular basis," said Puspita, an employee at a foreign investment company.
Like other children with asthma, she would have to refrain from certain activities in order to mitigate her chances of getting an attack.
"Now I enjoy life like other healthy people," she said.
An asthma attack is caused by inflammation of the air passages in the lungs. It affects the sensitivity of the nerve endings in the airways so that they become easily irritated. In an attack, the lining of the passages swell, causing the airways to narrow which reduces the flow of air into and out of the lungs.
Asthma hits all age groups and often begins in childhood.
The main risk factors, called triggers, are exposure -- especially during infancy -- to indoor allergens, such as domestic mites in bedding, carpets and stuffed furniture, cats and cockroaches, and a family history of asthma or allergies. Viral infections and over exercise can also trigger symptoms.
According to pulmonologist Pradyna Paramita of the Indonesian Asthma Foundation, people with asthma can prevent the symptoms from reoccurring.
"People with asthma need to see their doctors regularly in order to help them control their condition and be free of the symptoms," said Paramita of the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital following a seminar on asthma here last Saturday.
"But many people suffering from light asthma are not aware of their disease and are reluctant to consult a doctor."
The seminar was organized by the Indonesian Pulmonologists Association and marked World Asthma Day, which falls on May 3. This year, the celebration takes the theme Let Every Person Breathe, and hopes to remind all people with asthma to manage their disease properly so that they can live healthy and productive lives.
Apart from the seminar, the asthma foundation is also planning to hold a symposium entitled Understanding Asthma and Its Management at the foundation's headquarters at Persahabatan Hospital in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, along with a mass asthma exercise the following day at Taman Impian Jaya Ancol recreational park in North Jakarta.
"The events are intended to spread information and awareness about asthma to the public," Paramita said.
The foundation, which was set up in 1986, has an asthma hotline with a phone number (021) 4894444 for those wanting to learn more about the disease.
Unfortunately, the hotline is still not very well-known.
"So far the hotline only receives an average of five calls a day either from people with asthma or those wanting to learn more about the disease for their relatives," Paramita said.
The foundation also manages an asthma club, which among other things organizes asthma exercises, in 14 provinces.
In Jakarta, it has 20 clubs while the one at Persahabatan Hospital has between 60 to 100 members.
"The exercises train people with asthma to control their disease by training their breathing muscle," Paramita said.
The exercise is the seventh management step for people with asthma.
The other steps, which are popularized by WHO and the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), are understanding asthma, evaluating the various stages of the disease (light or acute), avoiding trigger factors, using the right medications, handling acute attacks immediately and getting regular check-ups.
Serious
Despite the absence of specific data on the number of people with asthma in Indonesia, it is estimated that 5 percent of the country's 210 million people are suffering from the disease.
"Out of the 5 percent, 10 percent have died because of it," Paramita said.
Although asthma does not kill on the scale of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, failure to use the right drugs or comply with treatments, doubled with an under-recognition of the severity of the problem, can lead to unnecessary deaths.
Around the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 100 million and 150 million people -- roughly equivalent to the population of the Russian Federation -- suffer from asthma and the numbers are rising. Worldwide, deaths reach a staggering 180,000 annually.
The human and economic burden associated with the disease is severe.
WHO said that worldwide the economic costs associated with asthma are estimated to exceed those of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined.
For instance, in the United States, direct and indirect annual asthma care costs exceed US$6 billion.
Because asthma is a chronic condition, it usually requires continuous medical care. Patients with moderate to severe asthma have to take long-term medications daily -- such as anti- inflammatory drugs -- to control the underlying inflammation and prevent symptoms and attacks. If symptoms occur, short-term medications, inhaled short-acting beta2-agonists, are used to relieve them.
According to Paramita, medication is not the only measure to control one's asthma.
"It is also important for people with asthma to learn the need to avoid asthmatic triggers. Each person must know what triggers he or she should avoid to be free of attacks," she said. (ste)