Estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy is associated with an increased risk of asthma in postmenopausal women, a large prospective observational cohort study showed.
Recent and current users of estrogen had a 54% increase in the risk of being diagnosed with asthma, according to Isabelle Romieu, MD, ScD, of the National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and colleagues.
The risk was even higher in nonsmokers or those who reported an allergic disease before they developed asthma, the researchers reported online in Thorax.
Epidemiological studies suggest that an endocrine mechanism -- perhaps endogenous estrogen synthesis -- is involved in asthma in women and girls, the researchers wrote.
It's plausible that hormone replacement therapy "might therefore play a role in asthma onset," they theorized in the journal.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Menopause/18342It's plausible that hormone replacement therapy "might therefore play a role in asthma onset," they theorized in the journal.