What is the management of asthma in cases of pregnancy?
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition of airway passages in which the passages gets inflamed and narrowed with mucus production. These changes results in symptoms like dyspnoea, coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. MANAGEMENT OF ASTHMA Generally asthma is managed in a stepwise approach which includes: 1. Occasional use of inhaled SABA 2. Introducing regular preventer therapy like glucocorticoids 3. Add-on therapy (LABA) 4. In poor control, addition of 4th drug 5. Continuous use of oral glucocorticoids 6. Step-down therapy IN PREGNANCY 1. Clinical course: Controlled cases have good outcomes compared to poorly controlled 2. Beta2-agonist, inhaled glucocorticoids, theophyllines, oral prednisolone and chromones can be safely used. 3. Oral leukotriene receptor antagonist can also be used 4. Prostaglandin F2-alpha used with caution as they cause bronchospasm 5. Woman can easily breastfeed the child.