Women going through puberty, pregnancy or menstruation are at a higher risk of severe asthma attacks, a new study has revealed.
The study, conducted by Asthma and Lung UK, has highlighted the link between female hormones and more severe asthma flare-ups, as women account for more than two thirds of asthma deaths in the last five years.
Women having more severe asthma flare-ups and subsequently being hospitalised only increases the number of appointments and treatments the NHS are sanctioning.
The research also shows that whilst rates of hospital admission for asthma in England are similar for girls and boys in their early teens, rates are more than twice as high in women from the age of 20-50, fuelling calls for more research to examine the sex-related differences in asthma.
The Asthma and Lung UK chief executive, Sarah Woolnough, said: “When it comes to research funding, women with asthma have drawn the short straw. Gaps in our knowledge are failing women, leaving them struggling with debilitating asthma symptoms, stuck in a cycle of being in and out of hospital and, in some cases, losing their lives.”
She added: “By understanding the role of sex hormones in asthma, we could transform the lives of the 3 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.”
Mome Mukherjee, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh echoes her thoughts saying: "There is not enough research into why women are more likely to be hospitalised and die from asthma and what treatments, new and existing, could help women.”
With the NHS going through a once-in-a-generation crisis, with unprecedented waiting times across the UK, further research into how female hormones affect and trigger asthma attacks could relieve some of the pressure the health sector is under and alleviate the mass backlog the NHS is facing.
More information about the research Asthma and Lung UK do is available here.
