HISTORY TAKING IN BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Bronchial asthma may be due to many different causes and an exhaustive history is of fundamental importance in the specific diagnosis of this disease. I will endeavor to outline the method of taking such a history, indicating, as I go along, the significance of the various factors. AGE The first point to be considered is that of age, although the actual age of the patient is nothing like as important as the age of onset of the asthma. Naturally, the prognosis is not as good in an asthmatic patient past middle life as it is in a younger one, as in the older patient there is much more likelihood of organic changes in the lungs and heart, such as emphysema, bronchiectasis and myocarditis. The age of onset, on the other hand, is of importance in that the earlier in life the asthma starts, the more likely it is to be