Asthma in Children Under Five Years Nursing Term Paper

Asthma in Children Under Five Years
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Introduction
Children under the age of five are at their most delicate stage in life. This is relative to the fact that they have underdeveloped immune systems that can easily be compromised. Some of the health conditions that the children will suffer from at this age will essentially be carried on to the older ages. This means that, it is crucial that the children are protected from development of any diseases, as they will likely suffer from the same when they grow up (Mayo Clinic, 2016). Where children are exposed to unclean air, such as smoky houses and neighborhoods at this age, they are likely to develop respiratory diseases that will then affect them for the rest of their lives. In some of the cases, most of the children that get sick at the stage do not make it to adulthood. This is relative to the fact that their immune systems are not well developed as mentioned earlier. As such, they in most cases succumb to diseases as their systems cannot effectively fight disease.
Asthma is one of the most common ailments that children under the age of five are treated for. In this case, asthma is also one of the leading causes of admission into hospital at this stage (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2016). The significance of the disease can be established from the fact that; it is included as one of the main objectives for the Healthy People 2020 program (‘Respiratory Diseases’, 2016). This is relative to severity of the disease and the impact that it has not just on the children, but their families as well as the society (Potter, 2016). The objective in this case is to make sure that the rate of asthma children under the age of five is reduced considerably; to make sure that the cases of children that are hospitalized for every 10000 drops to less than 18.2 % (‘Asthma’, 2016).
Background on Health Need Associated with Asthma Cases
A close look at the healthy people 2020 objectives sets the stage for the need to address asthma in the nation and specifically, when evaluating children vulnerability and future of the disease in the society. Statistically, from the year 2005 to 2010, there have been some fluctuations in the total number of children that are hospitalized. In 2005, there were an estimated 49.3 percent of children that were hospitalized with asthma all of whom were under the age of five years. The following year, the percentage came down to 43.3 followed by 41.4 in 2007 (Healthy People, 2016). In 2008 there was a great improvement relative to the fact that, the percentage dropped to an estimated 35.4 which is the lowest the figure has come down to (Lochte, Nielsen, Petersen, & Platts-Mills, 2016). In 2009, the figure shot up again to an estimated 40.6. According to the objective, the target that is to be achieved by the year 2020 is dropping the percentage of the children that are admitted to hospital with asthma to a mere 18.2. A close evaluation of the data indicates that, there are more males that are admitted with cases of asthma than there are females (‘Respiratory Diseases’, 2016). This is relative to the fact that, in 2005 the percentage of males was at 61.8 while that of the females was at 36.3 (‘Respiratory Diseases’, 2016). In the year 2006, the males were at 55.3 while the females were at 30.6, in the year that followed, there were 51.7 males and the females were the same as the previous year at 30.6. in the year 2008 which had some of the lowest rates, the males were at 44.9 and females at 25.5. The statistics also show that, the rates were higher among the African Americans than they were among the whites. This is indicative of the racial differences that exist with reference to the disease, an aspect that can be explained using the genetic characteristics of the two races. One of the most important aspect to consider is that, due to the fact that children tend to have weaker health systems, it is common for them to have more than one attack within a span of twelve months compared to the adults. Ideally the percentages in this case are 56.5% for the children compared to 49.1% for the adults. It is common that asthma attacks, tend to take place in the families that are considered to be low income, compared to those that are considered average to high income families. Regionally, there is a high prevalence in the disease for the families that are living in the south as well as the west compared to those that are living in the northeast region (Healthy People, 2016).
Asthma in Children Under Age Five
More than 50 percent of the children that are suffering from asthma in the United States, developed the disease before their fifth birthday. The epidemiology of asthma best explains some on the intricate way that the children develop the disease and further inform on the ways that one can avoid the same, especially for the children that are under the age of five years. There are quite a number of factors that cause the children at this age to develop asthma, one of them being the environment that they are exposed to. Where the children are exposed to allergens such as dust, pollen and smoke, they are likely to develop asthma (CDC, 2014). This is an aspect that has been determined to impact the health of the children, with close reference to the genetic linage. This is to mean that children from the same genetic linage, but exposed to environments that have these allergens while others are not will grow with different health complications. Ideally, those children that are brought up in environments that have most of these allergens will tend to develop asthma from a young age compared to those that are not exposed to the allergens (Mayo Clinic, 2016). Given the prevalence of the disease in the recent years, there is need for some form of intervention to try and reduce the rate at which the children are developing the disease. It is also crucial to note that the environment is one of the most crucial factors that causes the children to develop the disease. Of importance is the fact that, children at the age are very vulnerable and they tend to succumb to the infections. At the same time, it is important to consider that the disease also tends to affect children even when they grow older.
Reducing Cases of Admission in Children Under Five Years
If the health goal under the objective is not met, this will mean that, most of the asthma cases that are in the population will continue to grow ("Section 4, Managing Asthma Long Term in Children 0–4 Years of Age and 5–11 Years of Age", 2016). At ages below five years, it is po...