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Published on: November 4, 2010
Postmenopausal hormone therapy and asthma onset in the E3N cohort
Isabelle Romieu1, Alban Fabre, Agnes Fournier
1National Instituto of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico 2INSERM, ER120/Université Paris-Sud, Faculté de Médicine, IFR69/Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France. iromieu@correo.insp.mx
Thorax
|February 10, 2010
Summary
Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) may increase asthma risk in postmenopausal women. Estrogen-only MHT showed a significant association with newly diagnosed asthma, especially in non-smokers and those with prior allergies.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Endocrinology
- Pulmonology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Epidemiological data suggest female hormones influence asthma development.
- Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), also known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), is investigated for its potential to increase asthma risk in postmenopausal women.
- Previous prospective research indicated a similar increased risk for both estrogen-alone and estrogen/progestagen treatments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To prospectively investigate the association between different types of MHT and the risk of new-onset asthma in postmenopausal women.
- To identify specific MHT formulations and patient subgroups at higher risk for asthma development.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort study involving 57,664 women free of asthma at menopause, conducted from 1990 to 2002.
- Data collected via biennial questionnaires within the French E3N cohort study.
- Asthma onset defined as the time of medical diagnosis; Cox proportional hazards models used for analysis, adjusting for confounders.
Main Results:
- 569 incident asthma cases were identified during 495,448 person-years of follow-up.
- Overall MHT use was linked to a slightly increased risk of asthma onset (HR=1.20) among recent users.
- Estrogen-alone MHT significantly increased asthma onset risk (HR=1.54), particularly in never-smokers (HR=1.80) and women with prior allergic disease (HR=1.86).
Conclusions:
- Postmenopausal use of estrogen-alone menopausal hormone therapy is associated with an elevated rate of newly diagnosed asthma.
- The findings highlight a specific risk associated with estrogen-only MHT, especially in susceptible subgroups.
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