Sleep Loss Often Disruptive for City Kids With Asthma

Sleep Loss Often Disruptive for 

City Kids With Asthma

Study linked combination to missed school days, ER visits and less sports participation

SUNDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep loss is common among children with asthma who live in cities, and it is a major reason for missed school days, emergency room visits and lower levels of involvement in sports, according to new research.

This is especially true for Hispanic children, according to the study, which included the parents of nearly 150 children with asthma treated at the Bradley Hasbro Research Center at Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I.

"Children with asthma from urban backgrounds are at increased risk of disrupted sleep, which can greatly impact their daytime functioning," study lead author Lauren Daniel said in an American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology news release.

"It is important for parents and health care providers to routinely monitor sleep in children with asthma to minimize sleep disruptions and ensure proper asthma control," she added.

Asthma accounts for 10.5 million missed school days each year in the United States, according to the ACAAI.

Children with high levels of anxiety and general worries had trouble getting back to sleep after being awakened during the night by asthma symptoms. The study also found that parents said their quality of life was considerably lower when their child's asthma was not well controlled.

The findings were published in the July issue of the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

SOURCE: American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, news release, July 11, 2012

Exercise intolerance in obese children--is it asthma?

Yes in 47%! 

W V Med J. 2010 Sep-Oct;106(6):12-5.

Ask Dr Susarla, Smith or Patel.....www.txmss.com

Kaslovsky RA, Sondike SB, Cummings S.

Source

Pediatric Pulmonary Division, Baystate Children's Hospital, Springfield, MA, USA.

Abstract

This is a pilot study designed to examine the frequency of asthma in obese children who have exertional dyspnea. Obese children who complained of breathlessness with exercise and who denied asthma were invited to enroll. If there was evidence of airflow limitation on spirometry, nebulized albuterol was administered and spirometry was repeated. If there was no significant improvement or if the baseline spirometry was normal, exercise testing was performed. A total of 20 patients (ages from 8 to 16 years) with BMI from 22 to 61 were enrolled. 

Of the 19 who completed the study, 9 (47.3%) met criteria for asthma.

Recognizing and treating asthma may lead to improved exercisetolerance and improved weight status in these obese individuals.

Exercise may reduce asthma symptoms or attacks

Not only is it safe for people with asthma to exercise, but doing so could reduce their risk of asthma symptoms or attacks, according to a new evidence review in TheCochrane Library.

Many people with asthma report avoiding exercise because they're afraid it could trigger symptoms including shortness of breath, wheezing or a full-blown asthma attack, said review author Kristin V. Carson. These fears might be encouraged from misreading their symptoms, their family's beliefs about exercise and asthma, or even from their physicians.

Over time, Carson explains, patients can become out of shape, losing muscle mass and cardiovascular fitness. That makes any future attempts at physical activity significantly harder, increasing the chances that patients will become fatigued and breathless and further discouraging physical activity.

"This results in a spiraling cycle," she says, in which patients are even more likely to avoid exercise.

To determine whether exercise was a danger to asthmatics, Carson and her colleagues reviewed previous studies that looked at the effects of physical training on people withasthma , comparing patients who received no or minimal physical activity to those who exercised for at least 20 minutes, twice a week, over the course of four weeks.

The researchers found that the patients who had exercised—using physical training as varied as running outdoors or on a treadmill, cycling, swimming or circuit training—were no more likely to have a serious asthma-related problem than those who weren't exercising or who did light exercising such as yoga. Additionally, Carson said, their findings showed that patients in exercise programs improved their cardiovascular fitness, which in turn could reduce asthma symptoms over time. Some limited evidence from the included studies also suggested that exercise improved patients' quality of life, she added, which could contribute to other health benefits and improved psychological well-being.

"We found no reason for people with stable asthma to refrain from regular exercise," Carson said. "Physicians should encourage their patents with stable asthma to engage in physical training programs."

Len Horowitz, M.D., a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City who wasn't involved in this review, agrees that asthma patients shouldn't shy away from exercise. However, even though research suggests that exercise is safe for asthmatics, he says that many people will still use their asthma as a reason to avoid physical activity. "Not everyone wants to exercise," he said. "When patients think exercise makes them symptomatic or makes them risk an attack, it's a good excuse not to do it."

Horowitz notes that may professional athletes have asthma, which hasn't negatively affected their careers. However, he explains, some patients do have exercise-inducedasthma, in which vigorous or prolonged exercise can trigger symptoms. He advises patients in his practice to take precautions if they're susceptible, including pre-treating themselves with an albuterol inhaler, avoiding exercise that exposes their lungs to cold, dry air (such as running outside in the winter) and building their activity levels gradually.

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