FRIDAY, Feb. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Women with asthma may take longer to get pregnant and
have a lower pregnancy rate than those without the lung disease, new research suggests.
The study included 245
women, aged 23 to 45, who had unexplainedfertility problems
and were undergoing fertility treatment. Ninety-six of the women had been
diagnosed with asthma. The women were followed until they had a successful pregnancy, stopped
treatment or the study ended.
The median time for women without asthma to get pregnant was
about 32 months compared to more than 55 months for those with asthma. Median
means half took more time to conceive; half, less.
About 60 percent of
women without asthma got pregnant, compared with just under 40 percent of those
with asthma, the findings showed. The gap between the two groups increased with
age, according to the study published Feb. 12 in the European
Respiratory Journal.
The trial finding adds
new weight to evidence suggesting a link between asthma and fertility, lead
author Dr. Elisabeth Juul Gade said in a journal news release. Gade is with the
department of respiratory medicine at Bispebjerg University Hospital in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
"We have seen here
that asthma seems to have a negative influence on fertility as it increases
time to pregnancy and even more so with age," she said. "We do not
yet know the causal relationship; it may be complex with different types of
asthma, psychological well-being,asthma medication and
hormones all playing a role."
Gade said doctors should
encourage women with asthma to become pregnant at an earlier age and step up
their asthma treatment before
conceiving."Patient education
is also of paramount importance as adherence to treatment may be enhanced if
patients are informed of this link," Gade said in the news release.While the study found an
association between asthma and difficulty conceiving, it did not prove
cause-and-effect
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