Study: Asthma is Linked to CHD Risk

Asthma is related to an increase in the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), according to the results of a recent meta-analysis.

For their study, researchers collected data from 7 studies including 495,024 patients from 12 asthma cohorts. All of the studies were longitudinal cohort studies that examined the risk of CHD in asthma patients.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Could Diet Quality Influence Severity of Asthma Symptoms?
BMI May Affect Response to Asthma Medications
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall, the incidence of CHD was 4.5% in asthma cohorts (9774 of 215,704) and 3.1% in nonasthma cohorts (8,442 of 272,144). Asthma was associated with an increased risk of CHD (hazard ratio [HR] 1.42), and the association was more pronounced in women than in men (HR 1.50 vs HR 1.31, respectively).

“In summary, asthma is associated with an increased risk of CHD, especially in women. Physicians should be aware of this correlation, in particular, the absence of conventional risk factors, when faced with a patient with asthma. Beyond accepted guidelines for risk management, how the excess risk of CHD in patients with asthma should be managed in routine clinical practice requires further investigations,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Liu H, Fu Y, Wang K. Asthma and risk of coronary heart disease. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2017;118(6):689-695.