Systematic review, 2017

What risk factors are associated with asthma worsening before the period?

Women with premenstrual asthma tend to be older, have more severe asthma, higher body weight, longer asthma duration, and are more prone to aspirin-triggered asthma. They also more often have painful periods, PMS, shorter menstrual cycles, and longer bleeding.

Strong study design Women with asthma, specifically those with and without premenstrual worsening

What they did

They searched 7 electronic databases for articles on risk factors for premenstrual asthma and selected 20 articles for systematic review and meta-analysis.

What they found

Women with premenstrual asthma are older, have more severe asthma, higher body-mass index, longer asthma duration, and greater likelihood of aspirin sensitivity. They more often have dysmenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome, shorter menstrual cycles, and longer menstrual bleeding.

What it means for you

If you have asthma and notice it worsens before your period, you may have other menstrual symptoms too. Doctors may need to manage both. We still don't fully understand why hormone levels and inflammation affect asthma timing.

articles included in the systematic review

electronic databases searched

2017

publication year of the review

About the study

Original title: Risk factors for premenstrual asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Sánchez-Ramos JL, Pereira-Vega AR, Alvarado-Gómez F et al.
Journal: Expert review of respiratory medicine
Year: 2017
Study design: Systematic review
What was tested: N/A - observational review of risk factors
Read the paper: doi.org/10.1080/17476348.2017.1270762

Topics

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)Dysmenorrhea and period pain

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