Health expert claims vaping can worsen asthma
Published Dec 16, 2019 12:00 am
By Betheena Unite
Vaping with all the additional chemicals in it can worsen the condition of a person with asthma, a health expert leading an initiative seeking to reduce asthma deaths on the Philippines confirmed Monday.
(Betheena Unite)
Dr. Camilo Roa, Jr, program director for the Asthma Comprehensive Care Unit at the Philippine General Hospital, said during the launch of the “Juan Healthy Lung Philippines” that a person who has asthma but regularly vapes could exacerbate his condition.
“The airways, to start with, are already in an asthmatic hyperactive because of the chronic inflammation which is inherited and any additional chemicals. And in vape, you have so much chemical there not only particles but also gases that can irritate the airway and they can exacerbate,” Roa said.
“Of course, there’s also the damage from vaping itself. The two together is worse,” Roa, who also heads the Juan Healthy Lung Philippines, said.
The health expert said that if in the future, vaping remains unchecked, “it will all the more go up because it’s really physiology and pathogenesis, it will certainly make it worse.”
Roa and other health experts from various medical institutions in the country launched yesterday the Juan Healthy Lung Philippines, which aims to reduce asthma deaths in the country and seeks to ensure that “no Juan should die from asthma.”
The initiative is a collaboration by AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company, and public institutions namely Philippine College of Chest Physicians, Asthma Club of the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), LCP Physicians’ Association (LCPPA) Clinical Mentoring Program, Philippine Pharmacists Association (PPhA) and the Ospital ng Muntinlupa.
According to a global status report from the World Health Organization in 2014, more than 107 million people in the Asia and Pacific Region are suffering from asthma while only less than one-third of them are receiving preventive therapy.
It was also disclosed that the Philippines has the second highest asthma mortality in the world and it is the 10th leading cause of death in the country.
Lack of awareness, strong social stigma barrier, health systems inadequate, high prevalence of infectious diseases, asthma being largely underdiagnosed and undertreated and high rate of hospitalization and asthma deaths were cited by Roa as common challenges in preventing asthma.
The public-private collaboration is looking to overcome these challenges under the Juan Healthy Lung Philippines.
Within three years, the initiative aims to educate one million patients about asthma as well as to support building capacity of 20,000 primary care physicians on comprehensive asthma care through clinical mentoring programs and adoption of updated local asthma guidelines.
It also targets to establish 100 asthma care centers nationwide and to strengthen the capabilities of 10,000 pharmacists in educating patients on treatment adherence.
“More can and should be done to increase awareness of the burden that this disease has on the lives of patients, health systems, and national economies. As an asthmatic, I know how it feels like to have asthma and how it can be successfully controlled with proper management,” Roa said.
(Betheena Unite)
Dr. Camilo Roa, Jr, program director for the Asthma Comprehensive Care Unit at the Philippine General Hospital, said during the launch of the “Juan Healthy Lung Philippines” that a person who has asthma but regularly vapes could exacerbate his condition.
“The airways, to start with, are already in an asthmatic hyperactive because of the chronic inflammation which is inherited and any additional chemicals. And in vape, you have so much chemical there not only particles but also gases that can irritate the airway and they can exacerbate,” Roa said.
“Of course, there’s also the damage from vaping itself. The two together is worse,” Roa, who also heads the Juan Healthy Lung Philippines, said.
The health expert said that if in the future, vaping remains unchecked, “it will all the more go up because it’s really physiology and pathogenesis, it will certainly make it worse.”
Roa and other health experts from various medical institutions in the country launched yesterday the Juan Healthy Lung Philippines, which aims to reduce asthma deaths in the country and seeks to ensure that “no Juan should die from asthma.”
The initiative is a collaboration by AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company, and public institutions namely Philippine College of Chest Physicians, Asthma Club of the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), LCP Physicians’ Association (LCPPA) Clinical Mentoring Program, Philippine Pharmacists Association (PPhA) and the Ospital ng Muntinlupa.
According to a global status report from the World Health Organization in 2014, more than 107 million people in the Asia and Pacific Region are suffering from asthma while only less than one-third of them are receiving preventive therapy.
It was also disclosed that the Philippines has the second highest asthma mortality in the world and it is the 10th leading cause of death in the country.
Lack of awareness, strong social stigma barrier, health systems inadequate, high prevalence of infectious diseases, asthma being largely underdiagnosed and undertreated and high rate of hospitalization and asthma deaths were cited by Roa as common challenges in preventing asthma.
The public-private collaboration is looking to overcome these challenges under the Juan Healthy Lung Philippines.
Within three years, the initiative aims to educate one million patients about asthma as well as to support building capacity of 20,000 primary care physicians on comprehensive asthma care through clinical mentoring programs and adoption of updated local asthma guidelines.
It also targets to establish 100 asthma care centers nationwide and to strengthen the capabilities of 10,000 pharmacists in educating patients on treatment adherence.
“More can and should be done to increase awareness of the burden that this disease has on the lives of patients, health systems, and national economies. As an asthmatic, I know how it feels like to have asthma and how it can be successfully controlled with proper management,” Roa said.