The summer holidays put children with asthma at risk when they return to school, with experts branding it “a ticking time bomb”.
Every September, there’s a sharp rise in the number of kids hospitalised for asthma – in fact, back-to-school asthma is responsible for up to 25% of the annual hospitalisations for the condition.
“Many fall out of the routine of taking their daily asthma medication during the summer,” said Dr Andy Whittamore, GP and Clinical Lead for Asthma UK.
“This, combined with an abundance of cold and flu in the autumn which are known asthma triggers, puts them at a higher risk of having a life-threatening asthma attack when they go back to school.”
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Research published this week in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health concluded that fungal spores [biological particles that allow fungi to be reproduced] are more abundant in early autumn than other times of year – and are also thought to be responsible for the sudden spike in attacks.
The stress and disruption caused by starting a new school year is an additional factor.”
“The underlying aetiology of [‘back to school’] asthma is complex and in addition to the established contribution of respiratory infections, environmental determinants may be involved: the role of fungal spores could be an area for future research to investigate aetiology and determine potential future interventions.”
The stress and disruption caused by starting a new school year has also been suggested as an additional factor.
So What Should Parents Do?
Mums and dads of asthma sufferers are advised to try and maintain routine care throughout the summer holidays by using the preventer inhaler (a brown one) daily as advised, as well as strictly keeping track of how frequently the reliever inhaler (generally blue) is required – if it is needed three or more times a week, your child needs to see a GP.
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Parents are also encouraged to make sure anyone else looking after their children over the summer has a copy of their written asthma action plan. which can be downloaded from Asthma UK’s website and worked on with your GP.
Routines get disrupted during school holidays, as the well-oiled machine necessary to get everyone out of the house on schedule during term-time becomes a lot less consistent, but maintaining daily asthma preventative measures can make an enormous difference.
There are 5.4 million asthma sufferers in the UK, including 1.1 million children, and three families a day are thought to suffer a preventable death due to the condition. It affects more boys than girls, with asthmatic boys twice as likely as girls to require GP appointments.
