Asthma can and often is a life-threatening event. Approximately 20% of children and 5% of adults suffer with asthma within certain populations. Age, ethnicity, environmental factors, medications, other medical conditions and whole host of other factors can influence not only the prevalence in a given population, but the degree to which any individual will respond to an attack. There are many triggering factors, emotions, environmental, medicine, etc. and what will trigger an attack in one individual, another asthmatic will weather fine.

Reported deaths due to asthma range in the 1000+ per year, so I would not consider asthma to be self-limiting, unless you consider death to be a resolution. With that said, many individual asthmatics can resolve an attack without medications. I would not however, rely upon that method solely. If an individual were having an attack, he or she hopefully would have their medication on hand. Whether they did or not, I would still activate 911 or take the individual to the hospital, as some attacks are only temporally resolved through medications, etc. and another attack can come on quickly.

Pete