KARACHI, Dec 23: Health practitioners at a seminar on Saturday said that the living in unnatural conditions and increasing pollution and smoking were among the factors leading to asthma, which claims about 250,000 lives across the globe every year.

The seminar was organised by the Pakistan Chest Society, Sindh, in connection with the national Asthma Day, which was attended by Chest physicians, postgraduate students and senior doctors from all over Sindh.

Dr Mashoor Alam, director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, said that asthma patients could lead a normal life with proper treatment and precautionary measures. He remarked that asthma was the disease, which was under-diagnosed and under-treated worldwide, particularly in less developed countries including Pakistan.

In a presentation on ‘Asthma Burden’, Dr Mohammed Hussain, consultant, department of pulmonary medicine Liaquat National Hospital, said that the global prevalence of asthma ranged from one per cent to 18 per cent of the population in different countries. Annual worldwide deaths from asthma have been estimated at 250,000, he added.

Dr Saleemullah, consultant pulmonologist, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, said that the rate of asthma increased as communities adopted western lifestyles and become urbanized. Increasing pollution and smoking are other contributory factors toward the increase of the disease, he informed the gathering.

In his address of welcome, Dr Nadeem Rizvi, Head of the Department of Chest Medicine, JPMC, said that PCS, Sindh, observed the national asthma day in December because most incidences of acute or severe asthma in occurred in the country in winters

Prof Javaid Khan, Head, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Aga Khan University Hospital, explained about the modern treatment for asthma.

Dr Asif Imam of the AKU said over 80 per cent of patients interviewed for a survey in were found allergic to two common allergens namely, house dust mite and cockroaches, which were also taken as asthma triggers.

Dr Mohammed Irfan of the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases and Dr Jawaid Warind of Liaquat National Hospital discussed the management of asthma.

Shahina Qayyum of the JPMC said that patients with asthma suffered because of poor knowledge and presence of many misconceptions about the disease.