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Asthma is a disease that is a world wide phenomenon.
There are numerous factors that contribute to the cause and aggravation of
this disease. With the increase in environmental factors that are known to
contribute towards the increase in instances of this disease it would not be
completely wrong to call this disease also a lifestyle disease.
There are many more people falling victims to this disease than what were
seen in the earlier times. It is also a debatable issue whether social and
economic factors may be contributing towards increase in number of cases of
asthma. Although it seems to be quite a plausible thing that the people from
socially and economically backward backgrounds may be more susceptible to
falling victims to this disease, still there are no studies to support this
assumption in a concrete way. Also there are number of cases from socially
and economically upper classes to make the matters more confusing.
In the cases of allergic asthma it may be deduced that the social and
economic factors play a greater role than in the cases of non-allergic
asthma. This is because generally the people living in socially and
economically backward situations may also be more exposed to various
allergens. Also allergies of such people would have greater chances to go
undetected and so undiagnosed.
Also it may be possible that even if they suspect their allergies they may
not be able to afford and thus get the proper treatment for their ailment
because of their economic situation. Hygiene is a factor generally in places
which are socially and economically backward. Allergens are more in number
in such places. They may have greater chances of coming in contact with
people also in such environs.
Allergens may be present everywhere but the dust related allergies are more
prevalent in the people from lower socio economic zones. It is a fact that
the socially and economically backward families do not have access to clean,
independent and clutter free atmospheres. Their homes may not be well lit
and well ventilated. This leads to accumulation of dust mites and various
types of fungi in their surroundings.
The people who have allergic asthma due to these allergens would have
problems because of these conditions. Also there are higher chances of other
people developing allergies due to unclean atmospheres especially unhygienic
living spaces. The chances of frequent aggravation of their conditions are
also very prevalent. These frequent aggravations in their symptoms are most
likely to create situations of fatality also. So although it may not be a
proven fact logically the people from lower socio economic situations appear
to be more prone to be dying from asthma as with other diseases.
Apart from allergic asthma it is also seen that the asthma caused by
nicotine and drug abuse is also very high in places where the people from
lower socio economic backgrounds dwell. This may be due to very high rates
of smoking and drug abuse.
Although in the higher strata of the society also there are very high cases
of smoking and drug abuse the unhygienic conditions and cluttered life lived
by the people of lower socio economic classes seems to have been
contributing to this factor. Also the qualities of products that may be
available to people in different strata of the society are very different.
Naturally the products of poor quality may be adding more to the reaction of
the body against the abuse.
When survival is a question of utmost importance other things do become less
in intensity, be they diseases or education. This is the case in many
situations in socially and economically low segments of the society. In fact
this is the situation in most of the underdeveloped countries, which include
many Asian and African countries. Education is a facet that is mostly
neglected because the basic survival of the people is at stake and survival
takes higher priority over education. While illiteracy levels are constantly
on the rise the situations cannot be controlled unless better prospects of
survival along with basic amenities are provided to the people.
Asthma is one medical condition that is constantly on the rise because of
excessive increase in population. This is because not only do the hereditary
factors come into play with excessive increase in population, but various
other factors like lack of basic amenities for the people also come into
action full force. This also leads to lack of education for the masses,
which in turn gets translated into rise of many diseases including asthma.
Although statistics available to prove this are not really sufficient
logically it looks like all this may add up to compound the situation.
With excessive increase in population there are greater chances of all the
hereditary factors coming into picture. The non-allergic as well as allergic
asthma that may be related with the hereditary situations gets compounded
many times over because of the excessive rise in population. This is true
for other diseases as well.
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