Pollen and bronchial asthma

Bronchial asthma (asthma), is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. A chronically inflamed airway is characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness, and exposure of the hyperresponsive airway to various risk factors can cause bronchospasm, mucus plug formation and increased airway inflammation leading to airway obstruction or airflow limitation. It causes symptoms such as wheezing, dyspnea, chest tightness or coughing, mostly at night and/or early in the morning, and worsens, with most patients relieving themselves or with treatment. Improper treatment can also produce irreversible airway obstruction. Xin Jianbao, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Wuhan Union Hospital Risk factors for asthma attack: ① allergens, such as dust mites, pollen, fungi, animal dander; ② occupational irritants; ③ tobacco smoke; ④ infections, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, parasites, etc.; ⑤ exercise; ⑥ mental factors, emotional excitement, mental tension, etc.; ⑦ drugs, some drugs can trigger asthma attack, such as aspirin, etc.; ⑧ other factors such as chemical irritants, climatic factors, endocrine factors, etc. Allergic pollen in the air is an important risk factor for bronchial asthma attacks, and allergic diseases induced by pollen include allergic rhinitis, allergic skin disease and allergic conjunctivitis, in addition to bronchial asthma. In fact, allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma are the same airway and the same disease, and it is very common that they exist together and affect each other. As early as 1819, John Bostock, an English physician, described a disease characterized by respiratory catarrhal symptoms in summer, which was called Bostock’s syndrome at that time. In 1873, Blakley confirmed that hay fever was related to pollen, so he proposed pollinosis as an alternative to hay fever. Since pollen-induced bronchial asthma is more common in clinical practice, the diagnostic name of pollen allergic asthma or pollen allergic asthma was also proposed in the last century. The disease is characterized by seasonal attacks, which occur at relatively fixed times of the year and last for a few days or months. There is also a clear geographical distribution, with no attacks after moving to other areas during the season. The reason for this is that pollen is only one of the risk factors for bronchial asthma, and the basis of asthma attacks caused by the action of various risk factors is chronic inflammation of the airways with airway hyperresponsiveness, therefore, in the 2010 edition of the Bronchial Asthma Global Initiative, only Therefore, in the 2010 edition of the Global Creation of Bronchial Asthma, only certain specific bronchial asthma is given a separate name, such as cough variant asthma, occupational asthma, and exercise asthma, etc. Pollen is only used as a risk factor for triggering bronchial asthma attacks, and pollen allergic asthma is not listed as a separate disease name. Pollen as a risk factor for bronchial asthma is very common not only in spring but also in summer and autumn, and the allergenic pollen allergens vary greatly from season to season and region to region. The acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma is more pronounced in the spring. Unless there are very typical seasonal features, the treatment of bronchial asthma should be guided by the principles of the Global Initiative for Bronchial Asthma. Of course, avoidance of allergen exposure usually prevents asthma attacks in this group of patients, but it is not very feasible in real life, and immunotherapy is effective in some people and not in others. Therefore, for patients with typical seasonal features, inhaled glucocorticoids such as budesonide 400-600 μg or other equivalent doses of inhaled hormones for 1-2 weeks before the onset season until the end of the attack season It has a better effect on preventing seasonal asthma attacks. For most asthma patients the decision to escalate or downgrade asthma treatment should be based on whether clinical control of asthma is achieved.