PESHAWAR, May 3: Growing pollution is the main reason of increasing prevalence of asthma in the country, where five per cent of the people — 7.5 million — suffer from the disease, speakers at a seminar said on Thursday.

The seminar was held by the Pakistan Chest Society, NWFP chapter, and the Asthma Awareness Programme at the Peshawar Press Club on the eve of World Asthma Day.

Dr Arshad Javed, Dean of the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Hayatabad Medical Complex, and Dr Mukhtiar Zaman, president of the NWFP Chest Society, said most of the patients did not know that asthma was a manageable disease.

Dr Javed said asthma symptoms were intermittent, but the underlying disease was always present.

For many patients, medication must be taken every day and sustained at the correct level to control symptoms, improve lung function and prevent attacks.

He said it had been proven that asthma patients could now enjoy a life free from its symptoms.

Dr Zaman said: “Asthma symptoms vary from hour to hour, day to day, week to week and over months.

They are often worse at night and in the early hours of the morning.

Some patients have occasional symptoms, others have symptoms that interfere with daily life, while yet others have a very severe, relentless disease that almost excludes them from normal school and work activities.”

He said a variety of factors could set off an asthma attack, including viral infections; exposure to allergens like dust mites, protein particles shed by cats and dogs and pollen; exercise; tobacco smoke; air pollution; strong emotional expressions; chemical irritants; and drugs.

He said each person with asthma reacted to a different set of factors and identification of those factors was a major step towards learning how to control an attack.

He said the rapid spread of asthma around the world was one of the major mysteries in modern medicine.

The most striking increase had occurred in Australia, where about one-quarter of children were diagnosed with asthma.

He said asthma could be controlled through the implementation of effective measures by educating patients

to develop a partnership in asthma management; assess and monitor severity with measures of symptoms and lung function; establish medication plans for long-term management; establish plans for managing asthma attacks and providing regular follow-up care.—PPI