Review

Breath of fresh air on asthma

The Asthma Handbook
Jenny Lewis with the National Asthma Campaign
London: Vermilion, 1995, £8.99

Over three million people in the UK have asthma, a third of them are children and prevalence of the condition has doubled in the past 15 years. While the debate continues on the contribution of air pollutants, vehicular transport, tobacco smoke, and food additives, there is clearly a large target audience for a book like this which provides an easy-to-read guide to the causes, symptoms and treatment of asthma.

For anyone who has recently been diagnosed as asthmatic and for their families this book provides not only a useful resource but hopefully also, reassurance. As an overview of the condition, the book can be read in its entirety, but the individual chapters and sections are complete in themselves and provide a useful reference source for any specific aspect of the problem. To assist in this, the index is comprehensive, there is a list of useful addresses, information on the National Asthma Campaign (a source of helpful information itself) and an ‘A-Z of asthma’ providing a short summary on individual topics. Case histories are used throughout the book to illustrate problems at a personal level.

Two very useful chapters cover treatments and triggers. Current treatments for both prevention and relief are described along with a list of the most commonly used medications (with both generic and trade drug names). In many instances an individual’s asthma is triggered by exposure to specific factors and identification of these can help an individual to control their condition. Some of the more common factors and options for reducing or avoiding exposure to triggers are discussed in chapter five.

The chapter on babies and children should provide reassurance for any parents dealing with an asthmatic child and the chapter on asthma at school outlines how to deal with asthma over this period of a child’s life. One criticism is that this chapter is presented as guidelines for parents although the two case histories cited are written in the first person by children. A section addressed directly to children on how they could handle their asthma and its medication in the school environment would be a useful addition.

There is a role for complementary therapies in most health conditions and this has been addressed. Other chapters cover the work environment, general lifestyle, doctor and hospital involvement and what to do in an emergency. Finally the key to asthma control is self-management. Guidelines are presented on how an individual, with help, can develop their own personal plan to manage their condition. The information in this book should encourage both the asthmatic person, with their asthma under control, and other members of their family, to lead normal, full and active lives.