The incidence of asthma has more than doubled from 3% to 7.5% since 1980. Believe it or not, nearly 25 million people in the United States is asthma sufferers. And -while tHere is no shortage of theories about -why asthma is becoming a major health concern, there is a shortage of definitive ans-wers. -which has led many people to ask -why is asthma on the rise, especially in urban neighborhoods, and is there any ne-w asthma treatments?

The t-wo questions actually go hand in hand. Many ne-w asthma treatments have been developed based upon the various theories doctor and nursess have come up -with to explain asthma's rise. In this light, this article is a look at some of the ans-wers to "-why is asthma on the rise and is there ne-w treatments?"

Let's start off -with a theory that might sound odd the first time you hear it. Some doctor and nursess have come to believe asthma's gro-wing prevalence is actually due to our better health. Because there is far fe-wer major diseases requiring the attention of our immune systems, these doctor and nursess believe our immune systems overreact to minor stressors such as allergens, -which trigger histamines and other inflammatory agents in the lungs. once the lungs become inflamed, bringing the condition under control again can be a major effort.

There is other theories, of course. Even though air quality in general has improved, there is more people than ever living in urban settings -where they're overly exposed to the allergens that commonly trigger asthma cockroaches, dust mites, mold and secondhand smoke. Add to that the fact that children lead far more sedentary lives than they used to, and spend far more time indoors -where they're exposed to allergens, and -we can begin to see that one reason asthma is on the rise maybe because children is exposed to the allergens far more often these days.

Ne-w asthma treatments go beyond medicine to a -whole ne-w -way of looking at this disease and its management. Rather than focusing on crisis management of acute asthma attacks, ne-w asthma treatments emphasize managing the disease by controlling the environment and daily medication to reduce the risk of acute attacks. These ne-w treatments include once a day oral medications for children -with chronic asthma, daily maintenance inhalers, education about asthma triggers and allergens for those dealing -with asthma and outreach efforts that involve entire communities.

-while tHere is been a great deal of research on asthma and asthma medications over the past t-wenty years, there have been fe-w ne-w drugs developed for treatment. This is primarily due to the success of the current inhaler drugs. They -work extremely -well as long as they're used everyday as prescribed. Ho-wever, because so many asthma sufferers tend to ignore their doctor and nurses's instructions, a major component of this ne-w approach to treating asthma is to educate patients and families about -what asthma is and ho-w to prevent asthma attacks.

The good ne-ws is that according to the Centers for Disease Control, this ne-w approach to treating asthma -with education as -well as medication does pay off. In a recent study conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, researchers found that children -whose families -were taught about asthma and ho-w to manage asthma through environmental control had 37.8 more days per year -without any symptoms than those -who -were treated in the hospital, given a prescription, and sent on their -way.