Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Asthma

Definition: Asthma

Asthma

Noun

1. Respiratory disorder characterized by wheezing; usually of allergic origin.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "asthma" was first used: 14th century. (references)


Specialty Definition: Asthma

DomainDefinition

Botanical

Condition of the respiratory system associated with continuous difficulty in breathing. Treated with Aegiphila, Allium, Aloe, Bixa, Boerhaavia, Brosimum, Calotropis, Carica, Cassia, Cecropia, Chenopodium, Cissampelos, Coccoloba, Cocos, Coffea, Coleus, Cornutia, Curatella, Datura, Drymaria, Eclipta, Erythrina, Euphorbia, Hymenaea, Isotoma, Lantana, Lecythis, Lippia, Luffa, Mangifera, Manicaria, Moringa, Mucuna, Musa, Myroxylon, Petiveria, Plumbago, Rhizophora, Sapindus, Solanum, Sterculia, Tamarindus, Terminalia. (references)

Medicine

A chronic respiratory disease characterized by paroxysmal attacks of dysphnea with wheezing due to constriction of the smaller airways due to smooth muscle spasm. Source: European Union. (references)
 A condition marked by recurrent attacks of paroxysmal dyspnea, with wheezing due to spasmodic contraction of the bronchi. Source: European Union. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Asthma

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Asthma is an immunological disease which causes difficulty in breathing. In this disease, the bronchioles in the lungs are narrowed by inflammation and spasm of the lining of the airway wall. A person with asthma may experience wheeze, shortness of breath and poor exercise tolerance.

Pathology

Pathogenesis

Symptoms

The cardinal symptom of asthma is wheeze, indicating airway obstruction. Cough, sometimes with clear sputum may be present. Typically the symptoms are very variable, often with rapid onset, and associated with the triggers listed above. Symptoms are often worse during the night or on waking. Increasing airway obstruction will cause shortness of breath.

Signs

"Signs" (what a physician finds on examination) are wheeze, rapid breathing, expiratory phase of breathing longer than inspiratory, indrawing of tissues between ribs and above sternum & clavicles, overinflation of the chest and rhonchi (wheezy noises heard with a stethoscope). In severe attacks the asthma sufferer may be cyanosed (blue) and can lose consciousness. Between attacks a person with asthma may show no signs at all.

Diagnosis

In most cases the physician can make the diagnosis on the basis of typical symptoms and signs. The typical rapid changes in airway obstruction can be demonstrated by a fall in pulmonary function tests after exercise or inhalation of histamine, and subsequent improvement with an inhaled bronchodilator medication. Many people with asthma have allergies; positive allergy tests support a diagnosis of asthma and may help in identifying avoidable triggers. Other tests (for example chest x-ray) may be required to exclude other lung disease.

Treatment

Symptomatic

Episodes of wheeze and shortness of breath generally respond to inhaled bronchodilators which work by relaxing the smooth muscle in the walls of the bronchi (airways). More severe episodes may need short courses of oral steroids which suppress inflammation and reduce the swelling of the lining of the airway.

Preventive

Triggers such as pets and aspirin should be identified and avoided. People with asthma who are having symptoms most days will usually benefit from regular preventive medication. The most effective preventive medication are the inhaled steroids. See also: Asthma medication, Buteyko method

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Asthma."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Asthma

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
EntrySourceExpressionField

ASTHMA

EnglishAdvanced System of Teledetection for Healthcare Management of AsthmaMedicine

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms: Asthma

Synonyms: asthma attack (n), bronchial asthma (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Asthma

English words defined with "asthma": albuterol, Alupent, ambrosia, aminophylline, Anhelation, Antasthmatic, Asthmatical ♦ bitterweed, bronchospasm ♦ Elixophyllin, ephedrine ♦ hay fever ♦ isoproterenol, Isuprel ♦ metaproterenol ♦ orthopnea ♦ Proventil ♦ ragweed ♦ Slo-Bid, status asthmaticus ♦ Theobid, theophylline ♦ Ventolin ♦ wheeziness. (references)
Specialty definitions using "asthma": Acid Aerosol, Advair, Advair Diskus, allergenic dust, ALLERGIST-IMMUNOLOGIST, allergy specialis, Anti-Asthmatic Agents, Aspergillosis, Allergic Bronchopulmonary, Astemizole ♦ Beclomethasone, Betahistine, Bradykinin, Bronchial Hyperreactivity, Bronchial Provocation Tests, Budesonide ♦ cedar poisoning, cedar vale, cedar wood asthma, CEPHAELIS TOMENTOSA, Cetirizine, Chlorpheniramine, Churg-Strauss Syndrome, Clenbuterol, CORNUTIA GRANDIFOLIA, Cromolyn Sodium, CURATELLA AMERICANA ♦ Dermatitis, Atopic, Dyphylline ♦ industrial bronchitis, irreversible airway obstruction, Isoetharine ♦ LECYTHIS MINOR ♦ Nicardipine ♦ Orciprenaline ♦ Palma de Jicara, printer's asthma, printers'asthma ♦ Respiratory Hypersensitivity ♦ salmeterol, Seretide, Serevent, Synephrine ♦ Terfenadine, Tokyo-Yokohama asthma, Tretoquinol, Tripelennamine, Triprolidine, T-Y asthma. (references)
Etymologies containing "asthma": Pursy. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Asthma" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

French (asthma, asthmas), German (asthma, shortness of breath, wheeziness).

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Modern Usage: Asthma

DomainUsage

Screenplays

Which one do you want? Biff, Doug, Skippy? No, don't take Skippy, he's got asthma. (The Golden Girls; writing credit: Philip Broadley; Gabriel Castro)

Lyrics

Thanks for the days you kept me breathing when my asthma was bad (Anything; performing artist: Jay-Z)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Asthma

DomainTitle

References

  • Asthma Disease Management, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • The 2002 Official Patient's Sourcebook on Asthma (reference)

    (more reference examples)

  

Books

  • Breathing Free: The Revolutionary 5-Day Program to Heal Asthma, Emphysema, Bronchitis, and Other Respiratory Ailments (reference)

  • Sinus Survival: The Holistic Medical Treatment for Allergies, Asthma, Bronchitis, Colds, and Sinusitis (reference)

  • Asthma (ACP Key Diseases Series) (reference)

  • Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions: Self-Management of Heart Disease, Arthritis, Diabetes, Asthma, Bronchitis, Emphysema & Others (reference)

  • Herbs to Help You Breathe Freely: Herbal Remedies for Asthma, Allergies, Sinusitis and Other Respiratory Problems (Good Herb Guides) (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Photo Album: Asthma

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

U. S. Army Hospital Number 101, St. Nazaire, France. : Bronchitis, asthma and rheumatism ward. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Family Conference on Asthma and Allergies : [also] Practical Applications of Allergy for Primary Care Physicians. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Winners meet three winners with asthma!. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Benjamin Harrison, asthma cure, rough on asthma. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Use in Literature: Asthma

TitleAuthorQuote

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Madame Magloire was a little, white, fat, jolly, bustling old woman, always out of breath, caused first by her activity, and then by the asthma.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Asthma

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

Asthma is a problem among all races. (references)

Some people with allergy develop asthma. (references)

All "no" answers?Your asthma is under control. (references)

Business

The major end-users of home health care products are the disabled, elderly, and patients with asthma and diabetes. (references)

Expected to be operational in mid-2001, the plant will be Merck's main worldwide material producer for two of its products, which treat asthma and arthritis. (references)

Civil Liberties

Antigua and Barbuda

Residents cited increased numbers of persons with asthma and a serious injury to a young girl when a rock blasted from the quarry fell into a schoolyard. (references)

Economic History

Norway

Among these are newer medicines for rheumatic conditions, asthma and cardiovascular diseases. (references)

Russia

Best prospects for U.S. exports include cardiovascular, cancer, asthma, neurological and hormonal drugs, insulins, antibiotics, analgetics, vitamins, and psychotropic drugs. (references)

Human Rights

Yugoslavia

Filipovic, an asthmatic, was detained for 5 hours and suffered an intense asthma attack but was forbidden to use his inhaler. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: Asthma

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Samantha Geimer

So I'm feigning my asthma attack, you know, I got out, put a towel on and everything. We walked in the house. And I was going, you know, I really don't feel good, I'm having trouble breathing. I don't remember exactly what I said.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Asthma

"Asthma" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.20% of the time. "Asthma" is used about 610 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words		Rank in English
Noun (singular)98.2%59910,672
Noun (proper)1.8%11106,044
                    Total100.00%610N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Usage in Company Names: Asthma

CountryName
USA

Asthma Disease Management, Inc.

 (more examples...)

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

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Expressions: Asthma

Expressions using "asthma": asthma attack ♦ Asthma paper ♦ attack of asthma ♦ baker's asthma ♦ bronchial asthma ♦ cedar wood asthma ♦ collier's asthma ♦ Grinder's asthma ♦ Grinder's asthma phthisis or rot ♦ hay asthma ♦ Monday morning asthma ♦ National Asthma Campaign ♦ Potter's asthma ♦ printer's asthma ♦ sandblaster's asthma ♦ silo worker's asthma ♦ suffer from asthma ♦ tea maker's asthma ♦ teamaker's asthma ♦ wood dust asthma. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "asthma": asthma-like, asthma-related.

Ending with "asthma": anti-asthma, gor-asthma.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Asthma

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day		ExpressionFrequency
per Day

asthma

3,740

asthma inhalers

37

asthma symptom

237

asthma information center

35

asthma treatment

221

asthma management

34

asthma medication

220

asthma drug

33

child asthma

118

dog asthma

33

asthma and allergy

98

adult asthma

30

bronchial asthma

90

cough variant asthma

30

asthma information

87

asthma education

30

exercise induced asthma

79

asthma inhaler

30

childhood asthma

69

asthma cure

29

asthma attack

64

asthma infant

27

asthma in child

60

asthma and exercise

25

asthma relief

60

asthma pregnancy

24

asthma cause

58

singular asthma

23

asthma medicine

55

asthma chlorine

23

asthma trigger

49

cardiac asthma

22

feline asthma

42

asthma scholarship

21

pediatric asthma

40

asthma guidelines

21

asthma picture

38

adult onset asthma

21

american academy of allergy asthma immunology

37

asthma industrial

20
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Asthma

Language Translations for "asthma"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Afrikaans

  

asma (shortness, shortness of breath, wheeziness), aamborstigheid (dyspnea, dyspnoea, shortness, shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Albanian

  

astmë. (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏مرض الربو, ‏النسمة, ‏الربو, ‏ربو (bronchial asthma). (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

задух (constriction, fug, roaring, suffocation), астма. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

痚 (difficulty in breathing, recover), "喘, 喘 (to gasp, to pant). (various references)

   

Czech

  

záducha. (various references)

   

Danish

  

astma (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

astma (shortness of breath, wheeziness), aamborstigheid (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

astmo, astmeco (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

bróstmøði (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

نفس تنگی , تنگی نفس , اهو (Defect), اسم (Designation, Name, Noun, Title). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

astma. (various references)

   

French

  

asthme. (various references)

   

German

  

Asthma (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

άσθμα (gasp). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

קוצר שימ" (dyspnea), קצרת, אסתמ", אסטמ". (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

asztma (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

asma, ampek, bengek (teat). (various references)

   

Irish

  

plúchadh (shortness of breath, wheeziness), múchadh (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Italian

  

asma (asthmas, shortness, shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

喘ぎ (puffing, wheezing), 喘息 . (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

ぜ"そく (full speed), あえぎ (puffing, wheezing). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

천식. (various references)

   

Manx

  

reean (tightness of breath), plooghey (asphyxia, choke, choking, congest, congestion, cushion, fugginess, glut, inundate, inundation, muffle, restrain, smother, smothering, stifle, suffocate, suffocation, tamp). (various references)

   

Papiamen

  

asma (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

asthmaay

   

Portuguese

  

asma (wheeziness). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

astmã. (various references)

   

Russian 

  

астма (shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

astma. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

asma (asthmas, shortness of breath, wheeziness). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

astma. (various references)

   

Thai

  

โรคหื". (various references)

   

Turkish

  

astim (shortness of breath, wheeziness), astım. (various references)

   

Turkmen 

  

demgysma. (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

ядуха (asphyxia, choke, stifle, suffocation), астма. (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

bệnh suyễn, bệnh hen. (various references)

   

Welsh

  

diffyg anadl, caethder (restraint, strictness). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Asthma

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Greek700 BCE-300 CE

asthma. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Asthma

Derivations

Words beginning with "asthma": asthmas, asthmatic, asthmatically, asthmatics. (additional references)

Words ending with "asthma": antiasthma. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Asthma" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ackham, acthma, aeshna, Aethia, artha, aschma, Asham, ashma, Ashtal, asma, Asmal, Asmat, asth, asthama, asthema, asthmat, astma, astuma, athema, athsma, Athwal, Atsumi, Fachtna, Igtham, Othmar, Watsham. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Asthma"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "asthma" (pronounced a"zmu)
4a" z m umiasma, plasma.
3-z m ucharisma.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Asthma

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: matsah.

Words within the letters "a-a-h-m-s-t"

-1 letter: amahs, atmas, maths.

-2 letters: aahs, amah, amas, atma, hams, hast, hats, mash, mast, math, mats, sham, shat, tams.

-3 letters: aah, aas, aha, ama, ash, ham, has, hat, mas, mat, sat, sha, tam, tas.

-4 letters: aa, ah, am, as, at, ha, hm, ma, sh, ta.

 Words containing the letters "a-a-h-m-s-t"
 

+1 letter: asthmas, hamates, malthas, matsahs, matzahs, tamasha.

 

+2 letters: bathmats, camshaft, mahatmas, mastabah, masthead, phantasm, schemata, stramash, tamashas, thalamus, trashman.

 

+3 letters: abashment, achromats, amaranths, anathemas, arythmias, asphaltum, asthmatic, atheromas, camshafts, chiasmata, deathsman, haematics, haematins, hamartias, hatmakers, hematomas, hepatomas, marathons, mastabahs, mastheads, meatheads, metaphase, phantasma, phantasms, shamanist, shamefast, shantyman, tomahawks, trachomas, xanthomas, yachtsman.

 

+4 letters: abashments, aftermaths, amateurish, antiasthma, asphaltums, asthmatics, athenaeums, charismata, chiasmatic, chloasmata, exanthemas, haematites, hamantasch, harassment, harmattans, harvestman, headmaster, headstream, hematurias, lanthanums, machinates, malachites, malathions, manhattans, mastheaded, matriarchs, megadeaths, metaphases, metaphrase, myasthenia, phantasmal, phantasmic, pharmacist, shamanists, stramashes, tacamahacs, thiaminase.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern 		5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Photo Album
7. Quotations: Fiction
8. Quotations: Non-fiction 		9. Quotations: Spoken
10. Usage Frequency
11. Names: Company Usage
12. Expressions 		13. Expressions: Internet
14. Translations: Modern
15. Translations: Ancient
16. Abbreviations 		17. Acronyms
18. Derivations
19. Rhymes
20. Anagrams 		21. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.