What Is Reactive Airway Disease?

Reactive Airway Disease (RAD) is often misunderstood and many people either have never heard of it or confuse it with asthma. RAD can also be called, Reactive Airway Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS) by medical personnel. RAD is caused by exposure to environmental allergens such as those substances you breathe in like dust, animal dander, mold spores, and mildew. These things are found in your home, public places and your work environment.

Pollen allergens are seasonal and can occur anytime of the year. Environmental allergens can cause many symptoms that can trigger asthma-like symptoms such as coughing and wheezing as well as allergy-like symptoms like sneezing, runny noses and stuffy noses as well as itchy, watery eyes.

Reactive Airway Disease is not so much a specific disease as it is a term used to describe a history of coughing, wheezing or shortness of breath. The cause is usually unknown for these symptoms and the doctor is classifying it as reactive airway disease usually until a better diagnosis can be determined. It can be difficult to obtain an accurate diagnosis especially in very young children (under age 6). The end diagnosis may be asthma but in the meantime the term, "Reactive Airway Disease" is used to describe the signs and symptoms being experienced by the patient.

It is often thought by many that if a child wheezes he/she must have asthma. This is not necessary the case as many parents come to find out when they take their young child to the pediatrician. If you have a baby who has experienced an episode of wheezing you may be relieved to discover that only 30% of babies who have experienced wheezing develop asthma later in life.

A young child (under age 6) may receive a diagnosis of reactive airway disease and then as the child gets older if certain criteria can be met, the diagnosis may change to asthma. The criteria for asthma is that the child 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.

Some medical professionals believe that exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy or during the first year of life may predispose the child to RAD.

There is currently research being conducted on the genetic basis for the pathogenesis of asthma. Infants and very young children may be more responsive to airway when exposed to environmental allergens, or when they have contracted viral respiratory diseases such as colds and the flu.

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, gastro esophageal fistula, or a respiratory infection such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common cause of RAD.

If you would like to know more about Asthma and it's remedies then click on ASTHMA AND TREATMENT below.