Oral Contraceptives Tied To Asthma

Oral contraceptives may cause heightened risk for asthma in some women, a Scandinavian study reveals, Reuters reported. 

Women with higher body mass index (BMI) are most susceptible to this effect, as rate of asthma escalates as BMI increases, Dr. Ferenc Macsali of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The researchers mailed questionnaires to women of ages 25-44 years in the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden during the years 1999 to 2001.  Those who participated in the questionnaire included 4,728 women who did not use oral contraceptives and 961 who did. 

The researchers discovered that women ingesting contraceptives were 42 percent more likely to have asthma, and this percentage even considered other possible factors of contribution to asthma.  

But when categorized by BMI, the probability for asthma with oral contraceptive use were 45 percent higher in women of normal weight and 91 percent higher for overweight women, but 69 percent lower for thin women.

Information on the type of oral contraceptives being used had not been attained by the investigators.

Mascali’s team advises that the results should be interpreted with prudence, and further, women should not cease use of oral contraceptives.  

The researchers indicated, “Women who believe they have asthma related to using the pill should discuss anti-asthmatic treatment with their doctors, and alternatively other forms of contraception.”

The findings proposed in this study may eventually be substantiated, they asserted, however, “the individual health risks related to unwanted pregnancies are much larger than a slightly elevated asthma risk."

—

On the Net:

• Haukeland University Hospital
• Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology