September is the peak of asthma season with the start of fall allergies and children returning to school. Ken Mendez of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America explains how asthma can be managed.

Ken Mendez, CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, explains that asthma symptoms often worsen during the fall due to increased ragweed pollen and the spread of respiratory infections as children return to school. He notes that about a quarter of asthma-related hospital stays in children occur during this period. 

Mendez emphasizes the importance of understanding personal asthma triggers, maintaining access to medication, and using an asthma action plan to manage symptoms. He also highlights that environmental factors such as air quality and local pollution can make asthma management more challenging, and recommends regular consultation with healthcare professionals to tailor care to individual needs.

Managing asthma in the fall season

Joining us is Ken Mendez, CEO of AAFA. Thank you so much for being with us and discussing this important topic. Let's start with, why does asthma get worse this time of year and who is most at risk? Yeah, so what happens is you've got the fall allergy season. There's ragweed pollen, which is the primary culprit. Kids start coming back to school in September. And so they've got allergies and they're spreading infections and respiratory illnesses in the classroom. And then they spread that to adults and that's why we have something called peak week. So it generally happens when the fall allergy season is happening along with respiratory infections that spread in the classroom. I'd say 25% of hospital stays in children from asthma happens in September. All right, Detroit topped this year's list. What makes some places more difficult for people with asthma? Yeah, well, it's really about where you live and that's one of the things that we try and highlight with this report. We use three things to rank the city's emergency room visits, prevalence and mortality. And so, Detroit ranks high in those areas. It's got a high poverty rate and certainly a lot of pollution in that area and then that could be a trigger for asthma. What are some of the factors that make asthma so difficult to live with? Yeah, well, certainly air quality and making sure you have access to your right medication. So making sure your asthma is well controlled. There's something called allergic asthma. Again, there's the allergy season that can trigger your asthma. So understanding what the allergy season is being like, staying indoors, having an air filter indoors, understanding what your triggers are and making sure you see your specialist, see a doctor so you understand what your triggers are and so you could get on the right kind of medication. All right, what can people do right now to better manage their asthma this fall? Yeah, well, there are a couple of things that they could do first is one, understand your triggers and make sure you minimize your exposure to those triggers. So if it's pollen and allergic asthma, you wanna stay indoors during high pollen release times and also you wanna make sure that you have access to your medication. So you have a stock of medication on hand and that your asthma is well controlled. And then there's something called an asthma action plan for people, you can download it for free from our website. And it's the standard of care, which is like a scorecard, red, yellow and green. So green, you're in good shape with your asthma, but yellow, you're starting to have symptoms. You need to take certain medications and red means maybe you need to go see a hospital or doctor. For much of the Eastern part of the United States, Mr. Mendez, it's been warm and dry. I assume those conditions are more suitable for higher problems with asthma. I think it really depends on what your triggers are. So certainly dust could be a trigger for that. If you've got indoor allergies and certainly the warmth can be a challenge for some as well. Really depends on what your triggers are. And that's why we say all the time, see a doctor because asthma really varies for depending upon who you are and what your triggers are. Excellent advice. Thank you so much. Ken Mendez, CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.

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