Asthma Classifications

There's two main ways that asthma is classified, by the severity of the problems and by the triggers of the attacks. Severity of asthma is broken down into three main categories. There's mild or intermediate asthma which is defined as less than two asthma occurrences a week. Thirty percent of asthma sufferers fall into this category. Another thirty percent fall into the persistent category, which is two or more attacks a week.

Then, the majority of asthma sufferers, forty percent of them fall into the moderate or severe category. These are people who have daily, even constant problems with asthma. There's many triggers of asthma and many people will actually have more than one trigger of their attacks. Allergy asthma is the most common trigger of asthma. It affects more than fifty percent of the people with asthma. It's caused by an allergic reaction to something like dust, mold, pet dander or even the foods you eat. When the person comes in contact with their allergic trigger, the airways can become irritated and inflamed. The result is an asthma attack.

Another category is Non-allergic asthma. It's when a person has problems breathing because non-allergy related airborne contaminants. This includes smoke from cigarettes, air pollution, etc. The body's reaction non-allergic triggers is similar to that of allergy related triggers. The breathing tube that allows air in and out of the lungs becomes irritated, so they constrict, fill with excess amounts of mucus and make it difficult to breathe.

The majority of asthmatics have what is called exercise induced asthma. EIA is triggered by running, playing sports or other forms of vigorous activity. It can start within five minutes of starting to exercise or sometimes not even until after the activity is done. The high volumes of air rush in and out of the lungs cause the airway tube to become inflamed. It's not long before the tubes become constricted and the breathing problems start. Is your work place the cause of your breathing problems? Then you could fall into the occupational asthma category. The cause of the trigger could be anything from powerful chemicals to some other airborne irritant. When these chemicals are breathed in, the airway tubes react by fill with excess amounts of mucus, constricting and eventually turning into an asthma attack.