Long Term Implications of Asthma

One of the leading experts in asthma management devices discusses asthma and its implications. An excerpt from an article by Apieron:

Asthma Overview

Asthma is a chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the airways caused by allergens and other triggers. When airways are inflamed, the inner walls of the airways swell making them irregular. This causes the flow of air to become turbulent. The events that lead to obstruction of airflow and thus to asthma symptoms are complex and usually involve the following events:
Bronchoconstriction, where the smooth muscle surrounding the airways tightens in response to a trigger and narrows the airway.
Inflammation, where inner walls of airways swell.
Mucus formation within the airways that obstructs airflow.
Typical asthma symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness (dyspnea) and shortness of breath.

The Role of Inflammation in Asthma

Asthma signs and symptoms evolve from three basic characteristics that underlie the disease and its exacerbations: airway obstruction, airway hyper responsiveness and airway inflammation. Airway obstruction and hyperresponsiveness represent the classic physiology of asthma, and their contribution to the disease process and symptomatology have been well recognized for some time. Appreciation of the role of airway inflammation in asthma has evolved more recently.

Today asthma experts consider airway inflammation a central feature of asthma pathogenesis and its clinical manifestations. In fact, airway inflammation likely plays a critical role in airway obstruction and hyper responsiveness. In recent years, clinical and scientific knowledge of asthma has evolved from a model of episodic constriction of bronchial smooth muscle to a model which involves chronic airway inflammation.

Source:http://myasthma.net/blog/Long-Term-Implications-Of-Asthma