How to Identify Signs of Asthma in Children

February 23, 2024

Asthma is a condition that is quite common; it’s quite likely you know someone who has it. While current treatments significantly improve the quality of life for those who have asthma, without appropriate and timely medications, the disease could be lethal. Therefore, it’s essential for healthcare providers to educate their patients on the signs of asthma.

Keep reading for a brief summary of the most common indicators of asthma in children, so we can keep our kids safer together!

What Is Asthma?

If you are looking for a handy description of what asthma is that you could easily pass on to your patients, we have prepared one for you. Lungs have tubes that carry air. These tubes can become irritated and narrow when a person has asthma, which makes it harder to breathe. Additionally, asthma can lead to the production of thicker-than-normal mucus in the airways, further complicating breathing.

Common Signs of Asthma

Now, let's look at the common signs of asthma that parents of your younger patients should watch out for:

Persistent Coughing: Asthma in children often presents as a persistent cough, which can occur during the day, at night, or both. If this cough keeps coming back, it could indicate asthma.

Wheezing: Sometimes, when a child breathes, there might be a whistling or wheezing sound, almost like a tiny whistle inside their chest. This sound is a sign that their airways might be narrowing, making it more challenging for them to breathe.

Breathing Difficulty During Activity: Children are naturally active, but if a child struggles to catch their breath while playing or participating in sports, it could be a sign of asthma.

Chest Tightness: To help your patients understand chest tightness, ask them to imagine a sensation akin to something heavy pressing down on their child's chest, making it difficult for them to take deep breaths. This is how chest tightness can feel for a child with asthma.

Recognizing Asthma Patterns

Asthma symptoms may sometimes resemble those of other health issues, so it's important to observe the pattern of these symptoms. Here's what your patients should keep an eye out for:

Intermittent Symptoms: Asthma symptoms don't always stick around. They can come and go over time or even within the same day.

Triggers: Asthma symptoms often have triggers. These can include things like viral infections (like a cold), exercise, allergies, breathing in cold air, or even laughing and crying too hard.

Nighttime or Morning Worsening: Asthma symptoms tend to be worse at night or in the early morning. If a child is coughing or having trouble breathing during these times, it's a clue that asthma might be the culprit.

As always, when speaking with your patients, it’s important for you to emphasize the importance of a consultation with a healthcare provider. A diagnosis by an expert is essential to ensuring the right treatment. Stay tuned for more helpful tips from the Snot Force Alliance on how to provide better care for patients, and join our force today!

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Rural and Underserved Access to Multidisciplinary Airway Expertise

September 22, 2026

Inflammatory airway diseases can impact a patient's quality of life. Untreated conditions leave patients struggling to breathe, coughing regularly, and feeling unwell for months at a time. Airway disease management has undergone significant changes in recent years. Treating airway diseases has become increasingly complex, despite improvements in methodologies and technologies. In rural and underserved regions, many patients lack access to specialty care. Key Takeaways: Providing high-quality care to patients with airway disease requires collaboration across specialties. It is important to expand rural ENT access and access to multidisciplinary clinics. Clinicians in rural communities can improve patient outcomes through collaborations and with creative solutions that expand airway care. The Need for Multidisciplinary Airway Care Airway diseases affect multiple systems of the body and thus are treated by different types of physicians. Allergists, primary care doctors, pulmonologists, and ENT physicians all play a role in caring for patients with airway conditions. Physicians who can facilitate multidisciplinary care can improve diagnostic accuracy while also helping to ensure better patient outcomes. Challenges in Rural and Underserved Communities Rural ENT access is spotty at best. Many rural areas lack specialty physicians and often, patients must travel long distances to tertiary medical centers where they receive care. As a result, patients with limited transportation options may experience delays in diagnosis and care. Sometimes, these specialty care disparities can leave primary care providers to manage complex airway conditions on their own. In areas where insurance coverage is limited, and referral networks are fragmented, patients may struggle with their conditions without treatment at all. The Consequences of These Limitations Delays in diagnosis and treatment mean poor management of chronic conditions and increased reliance on treatment from acute care settings. Under this system, patients become frustrated as they lean on ineffective treatment methods. Methods for Expanding Access There are many methods for expanding access to patients in rural and underserved areas. Telehealth Airway Care The use of telehealth treatment has significantly expanded in recent years. With telehealth tools, hybrid care models combine in-person and virtual visits. This same technology also connects doctors, bringing together specialists and community clinicians. Regional Centers of Excellence Multidisciplinary airway centers have proven effective for helping patients access specialty care. Airway centers make it easier to streamline referrals in complex cases. These airway centers can serve larger geographic areas by setting up outreach clinics in surrounding communities. Collaborative Networks Partnerships and collaborations between physicians are key to ensuring that primary care providers in underserved areas have access to resources and information. Supporting Rural Physicians There are many ways to support rural physicians. Snot Force has committed to build networks for physicians, helping to ensure the dissemination of information across specialties and practice settings. We facilitate collaboration between disciplines to promote innovation in care for underserved communities. We're bringing doctors together to break down specialty care disparities and improve rural ENT access and information. Our research collaborative depends on many medical professionals to participate, and we're always looking for more physicians to join the force. To learn more, contact Snot Force today .