Asthma Essay

Asthma is known to affect anyone, anywhere, any race and any age. However it mostly common in children especially children who have low birth weight, are exposed to tobacco smoke, are African American, and are raised in a low-income environment. Asthma is cause by a respiratory condition marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. It usually results from an allergic reaction or other forms of hypersensitivity. Children with frequent cough, wheezing, chest tightness or shortness of breath may have one or more forms of asthma. Left untreated asthmatic children often have less stamina than other children, or avoid physical activities to prevent coughing or wheezing. Researches perform by Dr. Vithleem Dimitrakaky et al analyzes physical activity of asthmatic and non-asthmatic children, the influence affecting their intent to exercise and the influence on gender. Dr. Vithleem Dimitrakaky et al study included 100 children in all, 50 with asthma and 50 without Asthma. Out the 100 children 43 were boys and 58 were girls, the children range from nine years of age to fourteen. Asthma is known to be 2/3 time more frequent in boys then girls. For research Dr. Dimitrakaky et al conduct a Leisure time exercise questionnaire, the purpose of this questionnaire was made to evaluate the amount and the intensity of physical activity over a week period. The initial part of the leisure questionnaire calculate weekly amounts of physical activity in three intensity brackets based upon the personal perception of each child. The three brackets represent Intense 9 (MET), Moderate 5 (METS) and Mild (3 METS) the Metabolic equivalent of task known as MET, is a concept frequently used to indicate the amount of oxygen or ener...

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...ffered between two groups, attitudinal factor didn’t differ maybe because affected children had tough desires to be treated as healthy children and live normal life. Self-identity and social roles are factors that have shown difference. Boys are more capable in partaking in physical exercise where girls are more influenced by peers in their social environment. A limitation to this study that was addressed was about parents completing reports for children, which was not reflecting the real level of physical activity, researcher have then instructed physicians to obtain report from the child instead of the parent. This limitation was solved by selecting an instrument suitable for children and prohibits parent involvement. In conclusion to Dr. Dimitrakaki et al research states asthmatic and nonasthmastic children have the same positive attitude toward physical activity.