Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood Bronchial Asthma

Author: Chen Yuzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases in the world today, with 300 million asthma patients globally. Over the past two decades, the prevalence of asthma has risen in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and China has seen a similar trend. The 2002 epidemiological survey of pediatric asthma in China showed that the two-year prevalence rate was 0.5%–3.3%, an increase of 64.8% compared to a decade earlier. It is estimated that there are 20 million asthma patients in the country. As a result, asthma has become a serious public health issue, attracting great attention worldwide. The essence of asthma is chronic allergic inflammation of the airways. For a long time, its treatment was limited to temporarily relieving acute symptoms, and at one point, the inappropriate use of bronchodilators significantly increased asthma mortality. The emergence of inhaled hormones as the first-line control medication brought a qualitative breakthrough in this field. Subsequently, the introduction of leukotriene modifiers and inhaled long-acting β2 receptor agonists further improved and strengthened asthma treatment. The treatment of asthma is not solely dependent on medication but also relies heavily on long-term prevention and management, requiring enhanced promotion and education about the disease. Particularly across the vast land of China, not only patients and their families but also many grassroots healthcare workers have a limited understanding of asthma. In 1994, through the joint efforts of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the "Global Initiative for Asthma" (GINA) was developed. Based on this, our national pediatric asthma collaboration group formulated asthma prevention and treatment guidelines tailored to China's, which have been revised and improved over time. The "Early Diagnosis and Comprehensive Treatment of Pediatric Asthma" by the Asthma Center of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics is a project promoted by the Ministry of Health as part of its "Top 100 Projects for Ten Years." This book aims to help grassroots healthcare workers better understand asthma, improve their knowledge of the pathogenesis, risk factors, diagnostic criteria, and severity classification of pediatric asthma, with a focus on medication, making it highly practical.