Health Conditions

What are the risk factors?

While asthma itself is not hereditary, the tendency to develop it is. This means an asthmatic parent may have a child with overly sensitive airways, and exposure to certain "triggers" or irritants may cause the child to develop asthma. Asthma is more common in urban environments than in rural or suburban populations. As children, boys are usually more susceptible than girls, but in adolescence and young adulthood, asthma appears to affect both genders equally. After age 40, asthma is more common in women. Other risk factors include:

• living in a large urban area, especially in the inner city, which may increase exposure to many environmental pollutants
• residing in southern or western states
• being repeatedly exposed to tobacco smoke
• being repeatedly exposed to occupational triggers, such as chemicals used in farming and hairdressing, or in paint, steel, plastics, and electronics manufacturing
• obesity
• respiratory infections in childhood
• gastroesophageal reflux disease

Serious asthma attacks are more frequent in autumn for people ages 5 to 34. Older people tend to have more asthma problems in the winter.