Source: Annual Congress 2002 - New aspects of asthma epidemiology
Disease area: Airway diseases

Abstract

There is evidence that asthma is related to female sex hormones. In asthmatics, symptoms appear to vary according to menstrual cycle or pregnancy. Asthma prevalence differs according to pre-pubertal, fertile or post-menupausal age, as well as with the use of contraceptive pills or hormonal replacement therapy. Irregular menstruation reflects another aspect of hormonal condition.
In the ECRHS I stage I, postal questionnaires were sent to random population samples of approximately 3600 subjects aged 20-44 years in each centre in 1990-1994. In 1999-2001, a follow-up study took place in 6 centres in Estonia, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. A postal questionnaire was sent to previous respondents and was answered by 13282 subjects. 4542 women with complete information were left for analyses, after pregnant women, women using contraceptive pills and post-menupausal women were excluded. The association of regular vs non-regular menstruation with asthma was analysed using logistic regression, adjusting for age, smoking status, height, weight and centre.
Subjects reporting irregular menses had a higher risk for asthma symptoms:
OR wheeze = 1.12 (95%CI=0.93-1.36)
OR wheeze with shortness of breath = 1.28 (95%CI=1.01-1.62)
OR wheeze without cold = 1.30 (95%CI=1.03-1.64)
OR waking with chest tightness = 1.39 (95%CI=1.13-1.72)
OR asthma medication = 1.28 (0.95-1.73)
There are many causes of irregular menses, of which some may be unrelated and other strongly related to asthma. A few women may have irregular menses as a consequence of the stress of severe asthma. Asthma risk in subgroups with irregular menses needs further investigation.

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C. Svanes, E. Omenaas, F. Gomez Real, T. Gislason, E. Norrman, R. Jogi, C. Jansson, K. Toren (Bergen, Norway; Reykjavik, Iceland; Umeå, Sweden). Women with irregular menstruation have more asthma symptoms. Eur Respir J 2002; 20: Suppl. 38, 160

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