• Question: How do you get asthma from birth? Or just later on in life?

    Asked by katyun to Lyn, Katy, Paul, PB, Ruth on 25 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Katy Brown

      Katy Brown answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      We still don’t know exactly what causes asthma. It is more likely if someone in your family has asthma, so it must be partly genetic, but it can be made worse by cigarette smoke, pollution and exposure to dust and chemicals. Most children are diagnosed with asthma before they start school, but they may have symptoms before this that are not noticed.

    • Photo: Paul Waines

      Paul Waines answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      as Katy has said, whether you have asthma or not is down to many different factors, and some people develop it as they get older- others grow out of it. Children with asthma from birth sometimes have mothers who smoked while they were pregnant , but not always- so its hard to predict the exact causes.

    • Photo: Ee Lyn Lim

      Ee Lyn Lim answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      It seems there are a few different types of asthma, and they are caused by different things. Scientists have discovered a genetic mutation that can be found in 30% (that’s about 1 in 3) of children with asthma, which means that they were born with asthma, probably because their parents have it too.

      But what about the rest of the children without this mutation? We think asthma can also be caused by breathing bad air (like living next to busy roads in the city, or having parents who smoke), as well as having infections in your throat and lungs, because this damages your windpipes and might cause them to tighten up so you can’t breath. People can get asthma even when they’re teenagers or adults, especially if they smoke!

    • Photo: Peter Balfe

      Peter Balfe answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      Most asthma develops in childhood and often diminishes with puberty. But no 2 cases are identical, so generalisations are hard to make. The major causes are allergens in the environment, for example frequency is higher in households with pets. The allergic triggers are many and varied, ranging from traffic pollution to dust mites. Like many autoimmune problems, puberty can profoundly alter allergen responses, so many severe sufferers will improve in their teenage years. But unfortunately a high proportion will carry the problem for life.

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