Women who use hormonal contraception for a long time are at an increased risk of developing asthma in middle age if they are overweight or obese, new Australian research shows.
The study involving 2,764 perimenopausal women from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study found that body mass index significantly modified the relationship between hormonal contraception (HC) use and asthma.
The results, published in ERJ Open Research, showed that increasing years of pill use was associated with a significantly increased risk of asthma in middle-aged women who are overweight or obese.
But for women with a normal weight, the effect was reversed with longer-term HC use being protective against asthma.
Lead researcher Dr Melanie Matheson from the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Melbourne says the findings suggest women with a history of long-term HC use who are obese may need regular monitoring for asthma symptoms.
“If a GP knows a woman has been on the pill for a long period of time, and at that point in time when they’re assessing her she is overweight, it would be worthwhile assessing her asthma status as well,” she told the limbic.