Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. Due to this inflammation, a reversible narrowing of the airways occurs, and patients present with shortness of breath - a feeling of tightness in the chest - coughing and wheezing. While the complaints of the patients regress completely from time to time, infections, smoking, exercise, stress, exposure to allergens to which they are sensitive to certain drugs cause airway obstruction in asthma patients.

Performing pulmonary function tests to diagnose asthma confirms the diagnosis, but recurrent complaints, family history and examination findings are sufficient for the diagnosis.

In the treatment, corticosteroids and bronchodilator (airway expander) drugs are used to eliminate the inflammatory condition in the airways and to maintain the airway patency.