By Anthony
J. Brown, MD
Monday, February 23, 2004
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to curb the symptoms of menopause appear to be at increased risk for developing asthma, new research suggests. However, the risk of asthma is still low.
Asthma is just the latest of several conditions to be linked to HRT. In 2002, the Women's Health Initiative trial, a large multicenter study, was stopped about three years early after HRT was tied to an increased risk of stroke, thrombosis, coronary heart disease, and invasive breast cancer.
"There has been a long-standing debate on the effect of female reproductive hormones on asthma," lead author Dr. R. Graham Barr, from Columbia University in New York, told Reuters Health. "Our study ... would suggest that HRT use is, in fact, associated with an increased risk of newly diagnosed asthma."
The findings stem from a study of women who participated in the Nurse's Health Study and were followed from 1976 to 1998. HRT use and newly diagnosed asthma were assessed with questionnaires starting in 1976 and 1988, respectively.
The new report is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Compared with no HRT use, current HRT use doubled the risk of newly diagnosed asthma, the researchers note. In contrast, HRT use was not associated with a similar lung problem called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD.
As to how HRT might cause asthma, Barr said that "it may relate to the...inflammatory effects of HRT. These effects are often thought of as affecting the heart, but there's no reason why they might not also be important in the lung."
The findings "suggest another potential harm for HRT, but I'm not sure how strongly they should be weighed in the decision to use such therapy," Barr noted. "Although the risk of asthma is doubled with HRT use," the absolute risk remains very low, he added.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, February 23, 2004.