THURSDAY, Sept. 12, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Women with asthma have an increased risk for fetal loss and higher use of fertility treatment, according to a study presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress, held from Sept. 7 to 11 in Vienna.
Anne Vejen Hansen, from Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre in Denmark, and colleagues examined fertility in women with asthma, identified by treatment with anti-asthmatic drugs versus nonasthmatic controls. Data were included for 769,880 women who were followed for a median of 10.8 years.
The researchers found that 77 percent of women gave birth during follow-up, regardless of exposure to asthma. Compared with controls, women with asthma experienced a higher degree of fetal loss (17.0 versus 15.7 percent) and had more use of fertility treatment (5.6 versus 5.0 percent). Women with asthma had a significantly higher risk for fertility treatment (hazard ratio [HR], 1.12; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.08 to 1.15). The highest risk for needing fertility treatment was seen for the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) step 4 to 5 (HR, 1.62; 95 percent CI, 1.43 to 1.83); the risk for needing fertility treatment was also increased for women with three or more prior exacerbations (HR, 1.38; 95 percent CI, 1.19 to 1.60).
"We found that women fulfilling the definition of asthma had a higher rate of fetal loss and an increased use of fertility treatment. The more severe the asthma and the more flare-ups the women experienced, the more likely they were to need fertility treatment," Hansen said in a statement. "Why this is, is not clear. It might be related to systemic inflammation throughout the body, including women's reproductive organs."
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