What is Reactive Airways Disease?

Is RAD a Fancy term for asthma?Reactive Airway Disease (will be referred to as RAD through this article) not very often heard of disease and very often confused with asthma If your are exposed to allergens like dust, animal dander, mould spores, and mildew then this could be the cause of RAD for you Such environmental allergens can be found in your home or place of work. .

The trouble is, as we all know allergens are very seasonal, like cold weather or pollen and only appear at certain times of the year. Although they are always there in some form or another. The symptoms of RAD, such as coughing and wheezing are very asthma like, as well as sneezing, runny noses and stuffy noses, itchy, watery eyes. .

RAD is more of a history of coughing, wheezing or shortness of breath then disease as such. The cause of RAD is usually unknown for these symptoms and the doctor is classifying it as reactive airway disease usually until a better diagnosis can be determined. Another problem with RAD and asthma is that it is very difficult to diagnosis in children under the age of 6. Very often the doctor will diagnosis RAD until such test can be carried out to determined if the disease is asthma of not. .

If your child is always wheezing it does not follow that the child has asthma, it can be something else altogether. Parents often find this out when they go to the doctor. Only 30% of babies who have experienced wheezing develop asthma later in life; you may also be relieved to know.

A young child who is under age 6 may well go to the doctor and receive a diagnosis of RAD disease and then as the child get grows older if certain criteria can be met, the diagnosis may well change to asthma. The criteria for asthma is that the child (or body else for that matter) must be at least 5 year of age, have experienced episodic symptoms of airflow obstruction or have been diagnosed as having had airway hyper responsiveness, have been seen to have reversible airflow obstruction of at least 10% of predicted forced expiratory volume after using a short-acting beta2-agonist of one second (FEV1) and have had all other respiratory diagnoses ruled out.

There are many reasons to give up smoking and in my opinion; one of the main ones has to be the life and health of future children. I say this; because there is some medical professional evidence that, exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy or during the first year of life may predispose the child to RAD. There is also currently research being conducted on the genetic basis for the pathogenesis of asthma. The airways of very young children are far more delelget and exposes to environmental allergens, can do more harm then when they are grown up. This is also true of viral respiratory diseases such as colds and the flu. .

This may surprise you: statistically, reactive airway disease is responsible for 13 million health care visits each year in the U.S. and accounts for 200,000 hospitalizations at a cost of approximately $1.8 billion in healthcare dollars. Statistics show that reactive airway disease occurs more often in children of black and Hispanic origins and that African Americans are 4 times more likely to contract reactive airway disease than their white counterparts. Babies and young children may have previously been diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection that later includes wheezing and then the diagnosis of reactive airway may be given. A young child with reactive airway disease may wheeze or cough while actively playing.

A doctor may make a diagnosis of reactive airway disease when a patient is young, and presents with a fever, tachycardia, dyspnea, wheezing, coughing, cyanosis, poor feeding, distant breath sounds upon exam, an increased inspiratory-to-expiratory ratio, and may also present with an allergic shiner (semicircles of skin under the eyes). .

RAD may have many causes including reaction to allergens or irritants; a reaction to a medication, a respiratory infection, gastroesophageal fistula, or a respiratory infection such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common cause of RAD. .

So giving the symptoms of asthma the name RAD does mainly reflect the difficulty in establishing a diagnosis of asthma in certain situations — such as during early childhood. Although it is possible for infants and toddlers to have asthma, tests to diagnose asthma generally are not accurate before age.

Reactive Airway Disease (will be referred to as RAD through this article) not very often heard of disease and very often confused with asthma If your are exposed to allergens like dust, animal dander, mould spores, and mildew then this could be the cause of RAD for you Such environmental allergens can be found in your home or place of work. .

The trouble is, as we all know allergens are very seasonal, like cold weather or pollen and only appear at certain times of the year. Although they are always there in some form or another. The symptoms of RAD, such as coughing and wheezing are very asthma like, as well as sneezing, runny noses and stuffy noses, itchy, watery eyes. .

RAD is more of a history of coughing, wheezing or shortness of breath then disease as such. The cause of RAD is usually unknown for these symptoms and the doctor is classifying it as reactive airway disease usually until a better diagnosis can be determined. Another problem with RAD and asthma is that it is very difficult to diagnosis in children under the age of 6. Very often the doctor will diagnosis RAD until such test can be carried out to determined if the disease is asthma of not. .

If your child is always wheezing it does not follow that the child has asthma, it can be something else altogether. Parents often find this out when they go to the doctor. Only 30% of babies who have experienced wheezing develop asthma later in life; you may also be relieved to know.

A young child who is under age 6 may well go to the doctor and receive a diagnosis of RAD disease and then as the child get grows older if certain criteria can be met, the diagnosis may well change to asthma. The criteria for asthma is that the child (or body else for that matter) must be at least 5 year of age, have experienced episodic symptoms of airflow obstruction or have been diagnosed as having had airway hyper responsiveness, have been seen to have reversible airflow obstruction of at least 10% of predicted forced expiratory volume after using a short-acting beta2-agonist of one second (FEV1) and have had all other respiratory diagnoses ruled out.

There are many reasons to give up smoking and in my opinion; one of the main ones has to be the life and health of future children. I say this; because there is some medical professional evidence that, exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy or during the first year of life may predispose the child to RAD. There is also currently research being conducted on the genetic basis for the pathogenesis of asthma. The airways of very young children are far more delelget and exposes to environmental allergens, can do more harm then when they are grown up. This is also true of viral respiratory diseases such as colds and the flu. .

This may surprise you: statistically, reactive airway disease is responsible for 13 million health care visits each year in the U.S. and accounts for 200,000 hospitalizations at a cost of approximately $1.8 billion in healthcare dollars. Statistics show that reactive airway disease occurs more often in children of black and Hispanic origins and that African Americans are 4 times more likely to contract reactive airway disease than their white counterparts. Babies and young children may have previously been diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection that later includes wheezing and then the diagnosis of reactive airway may be given. A young child with reactive airway disease may wheeze or cough while actively playing.

A doctor may make a diagnosis of reactive airway disease when a patient is young, and presents with a fever, tachycardia, dyspnea, wheezing, coughing, cyanosis, poor feeding, distant breath sounds upon exam, an increased inspiratory-to-expiratory ratio, and may also present with an allergic shiner (semicircles of skin under the eyes). .

RAD may have many causes including reaction to allergens or irritants; a reaction to a medication, a respiratory infection, gastroesophageal fistula, or a respiratory infection such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common cause of RAD. .

So giving the symptoms of asthma the name RAD does mainly reflect the difficulty in establishing a diagnosis of asthma in certain situations — such as during early childhood. Although it is possible for infants and toddlers to have asthma, tests to diagnose asthma generally are not accurate before age.