asthma

Study: 4 in 10 Women With Asthma May Develop Preventable COPD

The authors of a new study have good news and bad news: More than 40% of women who have asthma may go on to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but because the risk factors are largely modifiable, many of these cases can be prevented.

As they age, women with asthma are at heightened risk of developing either COPD or asthma and COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS), which increase the mortality rate, lower quality of life, and increase health care costs. But the factors that influence the development of ACOS remain unclear. Accordingly, the researchers, led by Teresa To, PhD, at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada, set out to quantify the risk of developing COPD in a population of women with asthma and identify factors associated with increased risk.1

Data on women with asthma in the Canadian province of Ontario who participated in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study from 1980 to 1985 were linked to health administrative databases, and the participants’ cases were followed from 1992 to 2015. The links between sociodemographic, lifestyle, and environmental risk factors and time to COPD incidence were measured.

Of the 4,051 women with asthma in the study, 1,701 (42%) developed COPD. “Low education, high body mass index, rurality, and high levels of cigarette smoking were associated with ACOS incidence, while exposure to fine particulate matter, a major air pollutant (PM2.5), was not,” the researchers wrote. Most of the risk factors identified in the study were modifiable.

“The adverse impact of smoking and obesity on health may be even worse in those who are already living with asthma or COPD,” Dr To said in an American Thoracic Society press release.2 “Identifying modifiable risk factors in the progression from asthma to COPD is an essential first step in developing prevention strategies that lead to a healthy, active lifestyle,” she said.

—Michael Gerchufsky

References:

  1. To T, Zhu J, Gray N, et al. Asthma and COPD overlap in women: incidence and risk factors [published online July 17, 2018]. Ann Am Thorac Soc. https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201802-078OC.
  2. More than 40 percent of women with asthma may develop copd, but risk may be reduced [press release]. New York, NY: American Thoracic Society; August 10, 2018. http://www.thoracic.org/about/newsroom/press-releases/journal/more-than-40-percent-of-women-with-asthma-may-develop-copd-but-risk-may-be-reduced.php. Accessed August 14, 2018.