Around five per cent of adults of total population and 10 per cent of total child population suffer from asthma in Pakistan; this was stated by Prof Dr Nadeem Ahmed Rizvi on Tuesday.
Prof Nadeem Rizvi, who is also Head of Chest Department, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, while talking to media, said around 15 per cent population of Pakistan suffered from asthma, which included 10 per cent children. He said children were more vulnerable of this hereditary disease due to their weak immune system.
He said asthma was one of the most common chronic diseases in the world and it was characterized by recurrent breathing problems and symptoms such as breathlessness, wheezing, chest tightness, and coughing. He said family history of asthma as well as environmental factors were some major reasons behind the spread of asthma cases.
He said there were lots of misconceptions regarding the use of inhalers. He said misconceptions about the use of inhalers were the major reasons for poor asthma control in Pakistan, while other countries were properly managing the asthma disease through the usage of inhaler. He said family and the relatives of many patients also played a very negative role regarding the use of inhalers which were the best way to take medicine.
He said inhalers were the first line of treatment and were the safest way of delivering medicine to the lungs, but unfortunately many asthma patients have serious reservations over use of inhaler and they avoided regular use of medications through inhalers.