Jul 30, 2013 2 min read

For too long, asthma has been thought of by too many people as something of a minor disease. I don’t mean that doctors who treat asthma patients don’t take their care seriously. I personally treat patients with severe asthma, and my patients and I are very serious about this deadly disease. But there seems to be a sense among some doctors – and even some patients – that asthma is an inconvenience, a simple disease to be managed rather than a complex disease that requires diligent treatment.

And there is little in the public eye to validate for asthma sufferers that they do, indeed, have a serious, life-threatening disease.

The truth is that asthma is more complicated than many diseases and no one can legitimately claim to completely understand it. For instance, different asthma patients find that different things might trigger attacks. For many asthma patients, heavy, humid, summer air, with its associated smog and particle pollution, makes breathing difficult. That’s true here in Southwestern Pennsylvania, where the American Lung Association and other health advocacy groups work to promote clean, healthy air. But for many other patients, fall and winter can be just as difficult, if not more so, because of the risk of seasonal respiratory viral infections.

I have been practicing pulmonary medicine for a few decades now. I see patients who have severe asthma, who need more than an inhaled steroid. These patients understand that their battle with asthma is a life and death battle. But that understanding isn’t universal and it needs to be.

Until all doctors, patients and advocacy groups start seeing asthma, or at least a good percent of patients with asthma, as more than a minor disease, I’m afraid that many asthmatics will remain poorly understood, treated and underserved.

Sally Wenzel

Pittsburgh

Wenzel is the director of the University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute.