In simple terms, asthma is a disease that creates difficulties in human breathing that are carrying oxygen to lungs. Asthma is one kind of recurring or persistent lung disease that includes airway obstruction or inflammation. It usually affects human breathing passages or airways of the lungs.

According to NHLBI (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute), asthma is one kind of chronic disorder of the breathing passages. NHLBI associated asthma with variable airflow obstruction- a type of disease which inhibits air from passing through the airways smoothly, due to obstructions which are pathologic in nature.

American Lung Association (ALA) also defines asthma in another similar perspective. They consider asthma as one kind of chronic lungs disease. They contend that in asthma, the breathing passages become obstructed by overreacting to some factors. Thus it makes breathing very difficult. Aside from these two organizations, others also defined asthma in their own way. But one thing is for sure- that asthma is no more a single disease. It is a group or mixture of some closely related or similar types of disease.

Through recurring inflammation, asthma temporarily narrows breathing passages of the person and creates high sensitivity to them by one or more triggers. Various internal and external factors may trigger the inflammation and the airways become filled with mucus. As a result, muscles located within the airways become constricted and narrow the airways further. Subsequently, the asthma patient feels difficulties in breathing. Asthma creates some kind of resistance in breathing passage that shows some general symptoms. In that certain moment, the patient may face shortness of breath, wheezing, tightness in the chest etc. These are the symptoms of an acute asthma exacerbation or what we usually call asthma attack or flare ups.

Asthma is on the rise in the United States and other developed countries. Particularly it is very common diseases in the United States, where more than 20 million people are affected by it. A third of these affected people are children. Asthma usually affects all races although it is slightly more common in African Americans.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), nearly 300 million people around the whole world are affected by asthma. For asthma-related symptoms, above 450,000 people seek medical help in the United States each year and more than 4 000 deaths occur among those people.

Some patients face continuous suffering from asthma while others experience it occasionally. People can have an attack by it any time if they are exposed to one of the triggers by various internal and external factors. One thing we must remember is that asthma cannot be cured, but it can be controlled.

Asthma can be controlled properly with early diagnosing and treatment. People with asthma can limit severe asthma attacks with proper planned treatment. The trend nowadays with regards to treating asthma is self management- an approach which empowers the patient to monitor himself closely and report any signs and symptoms which may signal an impending flare up. Without proper treatment, asthma can cause more frequent severe attacks and can even lead to death.