Asthma: Ladies first

More women than men are wheezing their way through life.
But does it kill them?

By Anna Byk

Jane Breton is a typical asthma patient. At 29, she's had asthma since age 15 and is coping well with the disease. She takes her meds regularly, renews her prescriptions and updates her physician on any changes with her condition. One thing that Ms Breton is probably not thinking about is dying of the disease she controls so well. But a recent UK study shows that this could be the case. Or could it?

The UK study by the National Health Service reports that significantly more women are dying of asthma than men in Britain. The numbers are quite startling � in 2002, 916 women died of asthma compared to 514 men. According to an article on this study that ran in The Independent these figures suggest that medical advances in asthma treatment aren't as effective for women.

Dr Irvin Mayers, of Edmonton, Alberta, says that this study has the potential to be flawed. "[The UK study] describes higher mortality rates for older individuals. This data is suspect because it's possible to confuse asthma deaths with COPD in the elderly. Asthma deaths are most reliable when recorded in people under 35."

That being said the phenomenon of more women suffering from asthma isn't new. The slew of recent data raises concern that there might be something about female physiology that predisposes them to this condition. Research points to women of childbearing age as being the hardest hit. "In general boys have more asthma than girls," explains Dr Mayers, "but then after puberty this reverses and more women than men suffer as adults."

The results of a study published in the Archives Internal Medicine last February adds to the mounting evidence that there is a hormonal link to this disease in women. The results of the study showed that postmenopausal women on hormone therapy have an increased incidence of asthma.

This data, combined with the fact that more post-pubescent girls than boys have asthma, points to something in the hormonal makeup of women that could be triggering the asthma. Dr Harissios Vliagoftis, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, does say that there's no good research to back up this theory but that the possibility exists. "There's some evidence that the female sex hormones do have an influence." However, he adds that no conclusive studies have been done.

Says Dr Mayers, "There are some effects of estrogen/progesterone with asthma severity changing through the menstrual cycle." Whatever the case, more studies will need to be conducted in order to get to the bottom of this debate. For the moment, female patients with asthma shouldn't buy into the hype and should be reassured that their asthma medication isn't less effective for them.