For some people, asthma is a minor nuisance but for many, it’s a problem that greatly impacts their daily activities. If asthma is left untreated, it can be a life-threatening attack. Asthma is part of the WHO Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of NCDs. It is also part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Medicircle is conducting an exclusive series for awareness of asthma in which you can gain direct and more reliable information from Pulmonologists and Respiratory Therapists.

Dr. Rohan Naick is a Consultant Pulmonologist associated with SPARSH Hospital, Bangalore. He is proficient in the diagnosis and management of various respiratory disorders, sleep disorders, tuberculosis, and interventional pulmonology. He is experienced in performing fiber optic bronchoscopy, trans-bronchial lung biopsy, endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), and guided transbronchial needle aspiration/biopsy from the mediastinal lymph nodes, medical thoracoscopy.  

Asthma is a common disorder with excellent treatment options

Dr. Rohan mentions, “Asthma is a very common disorder that has excellent treatment options available now. An asthma attack is a condition when the patient feels difficulty breathing due to constriction of airways of the lungs. Difficulty in breathing and wheezing are characteristic symptoms of bronchial asthma. Bronchoconstriction leading to breathing difficulty can be termed as an asthma attack in a layman's language. We can stop having exacerbations of asthma attack by proper and regular treatment,” says Dr. Rohan.

How doctors detect asthma

Dr. Rohan explains, “We do the clinical diagnosis of the patient and try to get the history of the disease through examining nocturnal symptoms, associated running nose, sneezing, other signs of allergies and skin rashes, seasonal variation, family history of bronchial asthma, etc. Other than this, we do diagnostic tests. The most important tests are Lung Function Test (LFT) and Pulmonary Function Test (PFT). We observe the obstructive pattern with good bronchodilator reversibility. So, we do a lung function test before giving the patient a bronchodilator and then do a lung function test after the bronchodilator. This enables a good diagnosis. Other things that we check are the eosinophil, immunoglobulin levels, etc. The levels are found to be elevated in patients with bronchial asthma. So, this is how we diagnose,” informs Dr. Rohan.

Treatment options that specialists suggest

Dr. Rohan advises, “Avoidance will be the first line of treatment. Reducing exposure to dust or other allergens like pet hair is advised. House should be kept clean, free of dust, especially when one is allergic to it. Many people have pollen allergy so exposure to that should be avoided. Apart from this, we prescribe an inhaled form of medication. The same medication can be given in oral form but the medication in the inhaled form has the best outcome. They are targeted treatments and directly reach the lungs, unlike oral medications which get absorbed by other organs of the body too like the liver, kidney, etc., and not only require higher doses but also have chances of side effects. In inhaled medicines, lower doses are required and there are no chances of side effects as such. There is an unnecessary stigma attached to inhalers but it is the best way to go ahead. It would not be a lifelong thing if you follow what your doctors have told you and if you are able to achieve good control of the situation. Slowly, the inhaler dose can be reduced with time. We can even stop the inhalers later on. So, use an inhaler regularly as the doctor has told and slowly taper down the dose and stop it,” says Dr. Rohan.

No evident link between Asthma and Covid 

Dr. Rohan points out “There is no evidence in our practice that points towards the fact that asthma patients are more prone to Covid. Rather it could be that asthma patients are doing better compared to others if there has been a Covid attack. This is because they are already on a good dose of the inhaler. So maybe it is helping them in reducing the corona risk. However, any evidence of correlation between Asthma and Covid has not been found as such.”

(Edited by Amrita Priya)