Breathing becomes harder and may hurt. There may be coughing. There may be a wheezing or whistling sound, which is typical of asthma. A risk factor is anything that may increase a person s chance of developing a disease. It may be an activity, diet, family history, or many other things.
Different diseases have different risk factors.
Although these factors can increase a person s risk, they do not necessarily cause the disease. For example, some people with one or more risk factors never develop the disease, while others develop the disease and have no known risk factors. Knowing your risk factors to any disease can help to guide you into the appropriate actions, including changing behaviors and being clinically monitored for the disease. During an asthma or other respiratory flare up, the large airways in the lungs slowly begin to narrow. This measurement is very important in evaluating how well or how poorly the disease is being controlled.