Asthma is characterised by intermittent airway obstruction bronchial smooth muscle cell hyper reactivity to broncho constrictors and chronic bronchial inflammation the aetiology of asthma is heterogeneous with a number of established risk factors the prevalence of asthma has been increasing in all age and racial groups during the past two decades. Asthma is a multifactorial disease process with genetic allergic environmental infectious emotional and nutritional components the underlying pathophysiology of asthma is airway inflammation the underlying process driving and maintaining the asthmatic inflammatory process appears to be an abnormal or inadequately regulated cd4 t cell immune response. Asthma etiology pathogenesis and treatment alina v patterson pauline n yeager asthma is characterized by intermittent airway obstruction bronchial smooth muscle cell hyper reactivity to broncho constrictors and chronic bronchial inflammation. Bronchial asthma etiology pathogenesis clinical features treatment of bronchial asthma asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of air ways characterized by increased bronchial re sponses to a variety of stimuli there is widespread narrowing of air passages which is relieved by therapy or by itself