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What Are the Levels of Severity of Asthma?

Asthma is a lung disease that narrows the airways and makes it difficult to breathe at times. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 22 million people in the United States have asthma.

  1. Types

    • According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, there are four levels of severity of asthma: mild intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent and severe persistent.

    Symptoms

    • Symptoms of asthma include difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing and tightness in the chest.

    Time Frame

    • People who have mild intermittent asthma experience day and night symptoms twice or less a month. Those with mild persistent asthma have day symptoms more than twice a week and night symptoms more than twice per month. Moderate persistent asthma daytime symptoms occur daily and night symptoms occur more than once per week. Severe persistent symptoms are continual during the day and frequent at night.

    Treatment

    • Doctors treat asthma by prescribing medications. If you have asthma you have medicine you take daily to prevent symptoms as well as an inhaler you can use for quick relief if symptoms occur.

    Considerations

    • You can manage your asthma and help prevent symptoms from occurring if use your medications regularly and learn how to avoid anything that triggers symptoms.

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