What is Asthma?
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that effects a way a person breathes. It is caused by swelling of the lung’s airways. Asthma makes the airways too small to let enough air in and out of the lungs.
Understanding the Basics
- The muscles around the airways get tight and make the airways too small to let air in and out
- Mucus builds up in the airways of the lungs and clogs them (just like your nose gets clogged when you have a cold, lungs get clogged, too)
- The airways of the lungs swell. Asthma can be treated so that you can live a normal active life
What is Asthma?
How Lungs Work
For Individuals with Asthma
Asthma Basics is an online learning module designed to help individuals with asthma and those who care for them learn more about asthma and the condition’s effects. The Asthma Basics online learning module is available in both English and Spanish on the American Lung Association’s online training center which can be found below.
For Healthcare Professionals
The purpose of this course is to understand the pathophysiology of asthma and guidelines-based components of asthma care: measures of assessment and monitoring, education for a partnership in asthma care, pharmacologic therapy, and control of environmental and comorbid conditions.