Health Team

How to prevent back-to-school asthma attacks

Parents of children with asthma know that the first day back to school may go well, but it's the weeks following that are often a prime time for an asthma flare-up. According to WRAL's Dr Allen Mask, those problems can be avoided.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Parents of children with asthma know that the first day back to school may go well, but the weeks that follow are often a prime time for an asthma flare-up. According to WRAL's Dr Allen Mask, those problems can be avoided.

For many children with asthma, the best way to avoid a back-to-school flare-up of symptoms is to be prepared before it happens.

"Some physicians can consider to, basically, start kids on an anti-inflammatory medication before the child goes to school, knowing that that is a particularly critical window to get attacks," said Dr. Giovanni Piedimonte of the Cleveland Children's Clinic.

Dr. Piedimonte says asthma is a chronic, recurrent condition, and it's typically brought on by a trigger. Triggers for asthma flares may include exercise or even cold air, but the most common triggers are viruses.

According to Piedimonte, when children go back to school, their risk of catching a virus increases due to large groups of children being in small spaces. When a virus gets into the airways of a child with asthma, it causes inflammation, which then triggers an asthma flare.

According to Dr. Mask, some children with milder asthma who have been weened off of medications may need to start them again because of viral triggers present at their school.

For prevention, Piedimonte recommends that parents make sure their child takes their asthma medications regularly. Doctors can also tailor their child's asthma therapy according to their needs, because a child's body is always growing and changing.

"The lungs are growing; the airways are growing; the immune system is growing; so it's much more valuable over time," said Piedimonte.

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