Adult Asthma In Women Linked To Heart Disease And Stroke
Getting asthma as an adult may put a woman at greater risk for developing serious heart problems or having a stroke later in life, according to a report published in the June issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.
The study from Emory University in Atlanta, GA found that women who develop asthma as adults are two times more likely to have strokes, heart attacks or die from coronary heart disease than women without asthma or women who developed asthma as a child. Men with asthma at any age do not show an increased risk for stroke or heart problems, according to the report.
“Given the present frequency of asthma in the general US population, and increasing trends in the magnitude of this condition, these studies remain of considerable public importance,” says Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at University of Massachusetts Medical School in a review of the study.
More than 14,000 adults participated in the 12- year study that tracked the participants’ development of heart disease, stroke and asthma along with other health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, physical activity, emphysema and smoking status.
