Women with asthma in the UK – an estimated three million people – are almost twice as likely to die than men with the condition, according to new research.
Ahead of World Asthma Day, the charity Asthma + Lung UK is launching a report to tackle the stark health inequality that means women are more likely to have the condition, need hospital treatment for it, and die from an asthma attack.
Pollen, air pollution and dust are well-known asthma triggers, but people might not know that fluctuations in female sex hormones can also cause asthma symptoms to flare-up or even trigger life-threatening attacks.
Asthma + Lung UK is now shining the spotlight on the link between times of hormonal change (during puberty, periods, pregnancy and perimenopause) and asthma symptoms.
In childhood, asthma is more prevalent and severe in boys. However, after puberty, the situation reverses, and asthma becomes more prevalent and severe among women.
Over the past five years, more than two thirds of asthma deaths have been women, with more than 5,100 women dying from an asthma attack compared with under 2,300 men.
The charity says that women continue to “draw the short straw” when it comes to research funding and without major investment into targeted research looking into the sex-related differences in asthma, more lives will be cut short.
They are also encouraging GPs to explore this potential trigger with any of their patients, for example, considering adjustments to a patient’s medication regimen such as increasing the dose of preventer medication if symptoms are worse during hormone fluctuations.
For now, Asthma + Lung UK says the best way anyone can protect themselves against asthma triggers, including female hormones, is to take their preventer medicine every day as prescribed and have an asthma review at least once a year to ensure their medicines are working for them and update their action plan. Keeping a symptom diary can also help identify what’s triggering someone’s asthma, including hormones.
Poppy Hadkinson, 30, a TV presenter from Stratford-upon-Avon, says her asthma worsened when she went through puberty, and she spent her teenage years in and out of hospital with life-threatening asthma attacks.
She said: “I was diagnosed with asthma aged 11, while going through puberty. Over the next decade, I had regular asthma attacks and would end up in hospital up to six times a year.
“There seemed to be a pattern to my symptoms. Nearly every month in the run up to my period, I’d be really ill with my asthma. I’d struggle to breathe, which was terrifying, and I’d often end up in hospital. The attacks were so severe that I’d been ventilated four times by the time I was 22 and was questioning whether I’d make it to my next birthday. ”
Hadkinson, who still experiences asthma symptoms during her periods, was offered a new treatment of a biologic drug which she says was a ‘life-saver’, and has reduced the hospital visits.
She says: “I lost a large portion of my teenage years and my early 20s to my asthma. I would never want any other woman or girl to experience the same. We need to better understand how asthma affects women so we can find treatments that will give women like me their lives back.”
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma + Lung UK, says more needs to be done now.
She said: “By understanding the role of sex hormones in asthma, we could transform the lives of the three million women with the condition in the UK and the many millions of women with asthma across the world.
“We urgently need to see more investment in research in this area so we can find new treatments and better use existing treatments to help millions of women and save lives.”