Asthma is caused by two main factors, genetics and environment. Genetic asthma comes from the parents or one of them passing it to one or more of his or her children. Genetically produced asthma shows itself generally at a young age but sometimes disappears as the child goes into puberty due to hormonal changes in his or her body. Environmentally produced asthma can and will attack anyone, age, sex or ethnical background is not important. This asthma will not disappear ever, it may be controlled and the person may never suffer from an attack but it will always be there.
Children are greatly affected by environmental asthma too. Children who grow in large cities have greater probabilities to get asthma than country grown children, but the same goes for adults too. There are more than twenty million people of different ages, sex and ethnic background in the USA that suffer from asthma, of these six million are children that accounts for more than twenty five percent of the total. Considering that there are many more adults than children in the USA the probabilities are against the children.
Children are affected by genetic and environmentally produced asthma, adults can only be affected by environmental asthma; thus making children vulnerable to both causes of asthma. There are other factors which are backed by groups of doctors but which are under investigation which also can be applied here. Children who receive antibiotics at a young age are liable to become asthmatic due to their low self-defense capability. Children whose mothers received antibiotics while they were in the womb are also liable of suffering from respiratory diseases due to the same reason mentioned above. Another factor which is also important and affects many children in this day and age is obesity; obesity is considered a factor that will help asthma develop in any person. Pressure applied during sleep and while sitting on the airways and lungs by the accumulated fat weakens noticeably the airway walls making them prone to irritation and attacks by allergens. Children are also irresponsible, they roll around in the grass and dirt, run across a field of flowers or simply enjoy getting dirty adults are more aware of their surroundings and are alert to what may affect them and what wont.
O the other hand, adults have a greater percentage of obesity than children, adults are in greater contact and in closer contact than children with cigarette smoke and engine pollution while driving to and from work, and all types of man- made environmental hazards. They are allowed to smoke cigarettes or cigars, they are the ones who remove the allergens from houses and buildings, not children. They are already past the genetic affection of asthma and are only victims to environmental causes. Adults suffer greater degrees of emotional stress, another asthma trigger, than children who basically live carefree lives. No definite conclusions have been written and accepted on this matter regarding who is in greater danger to become asthmatic. But the fact is all groups, and every person is a possible candidate for asthma many times there is nothing you can do about it because you don’t control the environment but you can quit smoking, you can loose weight, you can exercise and eat properly.