Disease Database Drug Database Alt. Triggers Triggers irritate the airways and result in bronchoconstriction. Triggers do not cause inflammation and therefore do not cause asthma. Symptoms and bronchoconstriction caused by triggers tend to be immediate, short-lived, and rapidly reversible. Airways will react more quickly to triggers if inflammation is already present in the airways.
Smoke acts as a very strong trigger.
Second-hand smoke has been shown to aggravate asthma symptoms, especially in children. In fact, some health care workers feel that smoking in a home where there is a child with asthma is a form of child abuse. Children should not be exposed to a polluted environment over which they have no control. In contrast to triggers, inducers cause both airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness and hence are recognized as causes of asthma. Inducers result in symptoms which may last longer, are delayed and less easily reversible than those caused by triggers.