Learn about the main culprits in allergic asthma and what triggers asthma symptoms to flare up.
Allergic (or atopic) asthma happens when elements in your environment are to blame for setting off characteristic symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. Cockroaches, cats, and mold are among the common culprits.
“The majority of asthma that we see, particularly in children, is allergic asthma,” says Felicia Rabito, PhD, MPH, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. “Among asthmatic kids in New Orleans, what we found was 76 percent of children had a positive skin-prick test to multiple allergens.”
What Causes Allergic Asthma Symptoms
An allergy occurs when your body’s immune system responds to an element in the environment (an allergen or trigger) as if it were a threat. Swelling and irritation are common allergic responses. With allergic asthma, the swelling and irritation occurs in your airways, often narrowing them enough that breathing becomes difficult. That struggle to breathe causes the asthma symptoms — the wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath — that characterize allergic asthma.
According to national data, about half of all asthmatics experience asthma symptoms in response to one or more allergens. It is important to note, however, that not everything you are allergic to will cause asthma symptoms to develop. So even if a skin prick test shows that you have an allergy to Bermuda grass, that does not necessarily mean that a picnic enjoyed on a Bermuda grass lawn will necessarily cause your asthma symptoms to flare up.
Triggers of Allergic Asthma
If you suspect that you have allergic asthma, you should see an allergist who can thoroughly test you to find out what your specifictriggers are. Sometimes a trigger can be easy to pinpoint. For example, if you begin wheezing the moment you walk into a house where a cat lives, you are probably allergic to cat dander. But for many people, the allergen-asthma connection may not be quite so clear, or there may be more than one allergen that sets off their asthma symptoms.
A person with allergic asthma is more likely to react to a trigger they breathe in than other kinds of allergens. Researchers used information from asthmatics participating in the Third National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES III) and estimated the percentage of asthma cases caused by these common allergens as:
- Cats: 29.3 percent
- Alternaria (mold): 21.1 percent
- White oak: 20.9 percent
- Short ragweed: 10.5 percent
- Dust mites: 10.1 percent
- German cockroaches: 7.6 percent
- Russian thistle: 4.6 percent
In other words, cat allergies are responsible for one out of three allergic asthma cases, while mold and white oak each cause one in five. Food allergies usually do not contribute to allergic asthma. However, some people with asthma will react to foods containing sulfites — like shrimp, dried fruit, beer, and wine — and may experience asthma symptoms if they eat or drink those foods.
The research also found that 17.9 percent of asthmatics in the NHANES sample had a peanut allergy, but further analysis did not show that peanut allergy alone caused their asthma. There are other factors that seem to make it more likely a person’s asthma will be due to allergies, including being male, having a higher level of education, and living in urban areas. These people are more likely to have allergic asthma than other asthmatics without these risk factors.
Controlling Allergic Asthma
For some people with allergic asthma, allergy medications may help prevent asthma attacks. Allergy medication is particularly helpful in preventing and controlling reactions to pollens, animal dander, and dust mites. Other people may be able to prevent asthma symptoms by simply avoiding their allergen triggers.
It’s always a good idea to take your daily asthma medications as your doctor prescribes them. But the safest thing to do, no matter which category of allergic asthma you fall into, is to carry a rescue inhaler with you for any unexpected allergen exposures.
