KARACHI, May 6: Most asthma patients are not aware of the fact that it is a manageable disease and asthmatics can live a normal life.

This was observed by experts while speaking at a press briefing held here to mark the World Asthma Day with the theme: “You can control your asthma”. The event was organised by the Asthma Awareness Programme, a public service initiative.

Chest specialists Dr Javaid A. Khan of the Aga Khan University, Dr Mukhtiar Zaman of the Khyber University (Peshawar) and Dr Nadeem Rizvi of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, said that asthma could be controlled through proper medication.

They expressed concern over the prevalence of asthma, and observed that an upward trend globally had been registered of late. In Pakistan, five out of every 100 persons suffer from asthma making it around 7.5 million people. According to recent statistics, there are some 300 million people with asthma in the world. The disease is considered to be one of the most common health problems.

“It has become more common in recent years,” the experts noted, apprehending that 100 to 150 million people might contract the disease in the next few years.

Dr Mukhtiar Zaman stressed that medicines prescribed by qualified doctors to control asthma must be taken every day, pointing out that symptoms of the disease appeared intermittent but the disease remained there all the time.

Dr Nadeem Rizvi, referring to an international study, “Gaining optimal asthma control”, said that it had been proved for the first time that asthma patients could enjoy a life completely free from asthma symptoms. He also referred to the first major study conducted in Pakistan, “Asthma insights and reality”, by a team led by renowned pulmonologist Prof Paul Jones, and said it had established that 71 per cent of asthma patients interviewed said that their condition had improved because of the better understanding of the disease. “This shows that awareness matters in controlling the disease,” said Dr Rizvi.

Prof Javaid A. Khan said that a majority of asthma patients in Pakistan lived a poor quality life. “This is not because the treatment is not available, but because of their failure to accept the diagnosis and receive adequate treatment,” he said.

Inhaled steroids were the best medicines currently available for the long-term control of asthma, he said, and dispelled the impression that inhalers were addictive or were used only at an advance stage. “In fact, inhalers are the safest method of delivering medicines to the lung and can be used also by children,” he said.

The experts said exposure to active or passive smoking was extremely dangerous and children must be protected from tobacco toxins at all costs to avoid asthma.

“Exposure to tobacco smoke is the major reason for the upward trend in asthma prevalence,” they observed.