500.000 Costa Ricans
Affected By Asthma
Asthma is the great
enemy of children and as
such Costa Rican doctors
have taken to studying
thousands of cases of
minors to determine what
makes them so
vulnerable.
Medical experts have
found that children
between the ages of 6
and 7 are found to have
bronchial asthma more
frequently.
Doctors fear that these
children will grow to
suffer obstructive
chronic pulmonary
disease as adults.
Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD),
also known as chronic
obstructive airway
diseases (COAD), is a
group of diseases
characterized by the
pathological limitation
of airflow in the airway
that is not fully
reversible. It refers to
an obstruction of
airflow, which results
in air becoming trapped
in the lungs. It is the
4th leading cause of
death in the U.S.
Costa Rica is the fifth
country worldwide to
suffer from the disease,
with more than 500.000
people affected by
Bronchial asthma, a
disease caused by
increased responsiveness
of the tracheobronchial
tree to various stimuli.
In Costa Rica, the
Hospital Nacional de
Niños (Children's
hospital) is the leader
in investigative
research on asthma.
Studies reveal that
young male children have
a greater propensity to
suffer from asthma,
however, female
adolescents with asthma
suffer more severely and
is more difficult to
treat. |
