Case report, 1988
Does progesterone help asthma that gets worse before your period?
Yes. Three patients with severe asthma that worsened each month and hadn't responded to other treatments had the monthly breathing problems stop after starting progesterone injections.
What they did
Case report of three patients with severe asthma that got much worse before their period. They added progesterone injections to their treatment. Two patients got 100 mg daily, one got 600 mg twice a week.
What they found
The monthly drops in peak flow (breathing ability) stopped in all three patients. All three had their steroid pill doses reduced.
What it means for you
Progesterone injections may help severe asthma that worsens each month, but this finding is based on only three patients. Much larger studies are needed to know if this works more broadly.
3
patients treated
100 mg
progesterone daily dose
600 mg
progesterone dose twice weekly
About the study
- Original title
- Severe premenstrual exacerbations of asthma: effect of intramuscular progesterone
- Authors
- Beynon HL, Garbett ND, Barnes PJ
- Journal
- Lancet (London, England)
- Year
- 1988
- Study design
- Case report
- Participants
- 100
- What was tested
- Intramuscular progesterone (100 mg daily or 600 mg twice weekly)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(88)92837-1
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