Asthma is primarily involved in the bronchial tree with its primary job to distribute air throughout the lungs until reaching the alveolar sacs. The conducting zone extends from the nose to the bronchioles, and the respiratory zone where gas exchange takes place is from the alveolar duct to the alveoli. Anatomically, the respiratory system falls into two zones, characterized by the conducting zone and respiratory zone. The lungs consist of lobes and segments, with the right lung having ten segments, and the left lung has eight or nine, depending on the division of the lobe. The organ system affected by asthma is the lungs. More research needs to be done to have a clearer picture of the multifactorial disease. Interestingly enough, obesity showed a positive linear relationship between asthma and increased BMI. Air pollution and the causation of asthma are also less clear however, there is a relationship with smoking and the increased risk of asthma. The reason being is that there is increased exposure to these allergens, but less data is available on the causality. Enhanced IgE response to environmental factors such as house dust mites, animal allergens, mold, farm animals, have contributed to sensitize asthma exacerbating its symptoms and attributing to increased airway reactivity. Research has shown that asthma was closely related to the total IgE serum level. Atopy or IgE antibodies attack specific antigens or pollutants, which can contribute to the disease. Asthma is most likely transmitted by multiple genes, with some variation of locus heterogeneity and polygenic inheritance leading to asthma expression being multifaceted. However, the genes responsible for inheriting asthma remain unidentified. There are mechanisms of the phenotype of asthma that has a strong correlation of being inherited, but the mechanism is more complex, as asthma does not follow a Mendelian pattern.
There is a family history component of asthma, as well. Differences in childhood can be due to atopy, or because boys have a reduced airway size compared to girls. In children, asthma is presented predominantly in males until the age of 20, where the disease equally prevalent. There also has been some mixed trends around the world where different countries have either had increasing cases or have been stagnant. The prevalence of asthma in the USA is around 8%.
From 1982 to 1992, the rate of asthma jumped from 34.7 to 49.4 per thousand. Asthma is becoming a more prevalent disease since the early 1990s.
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