Hormonal replacement therapy linked to reduced risk of developing asthma

Published online: December 03, 2020

Previous studies of sex steroids, or Hormonal Replacement Therapy (HRT), have not been conclusive of their role in the development of asthma in menopausal women. In this study, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), Shah et al investigated the association of HRT use, its subtypes, and its duration with the risk of developing asthma in 353,173 menopausal women from the Optimum Patient Care Research Database of primary care practices in the UK The analysis also examined whether these associations changed due to differences in body mass index (BMI) and cigarette smoking. This is the largest longitudinal study on the topic to date.

Compared to non-use, there was a 18-22% reduction in risk of developing new asthma onset in women who used HRT. The study also found that the longer a woman used HRT, the lower their risk of asthma: 7% lower for 1-2 years’ use, 23% lower for 3-4 years’ use, and 29% for 5 or more years’ use. However, when divided into age, BMI or smoking groups, these effects become insignificant.

This national, longitudinal study found that current and previous use of hormone replacement therapy was associated with clinically-important reductions in the development of asthma in menopausal women. These findings now need to be validated in other populations and there is also a need to undertake studies to understand the biological processes through which hormone replacement therapy influences the development of asthma.

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) is an official scientific journal of the AAAAI, and is the most-cited journal in the field of allergy and clinical immunology.

Full Article