Age of asthma onset and its relevance to adult asthma in the general population

Obesity and asthma: An association modified by age of asthma onset

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Younger age of asthma onset (AAO) has been associated with an allergic phenotype, whereas eosinophilic phenotypes have been associated with older AAO. In randomized trials, biologic efficacy among adults with severe asthma (SA) has varied by age at asthma onset. To determine whether these associations observed in trials apply to real-world outcomes, this study examined biologic effectiveness by AAO and biologic class in a large, real-world cohort. CHRONICLE is an ongoing, real-world study of US adults with subspecialist-treated SA receiving biologics, maintenance corticosteroids, or who are uncontrolled on high-dosage inhaled corticosteroids with additional controllers. Patients enrolled between February 2018 and February 2022 who initiated a biologic for SA and had complete data for analysis were included. A locally estimated scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) analysis was used to plot the relationship between percentage exacerbation rate reduction and AAO by biologic class. Of 578 patients with complete data, 198, 149, and 231 were diagnosed with asthma at age <18, 18-39, and ≥40 years, respectively. Across subgroups, patients were predominantly White (72-78%), female (67-73%), and commercially insured (54-71%). In the LOESS analysis, exacerbation rate reductions were similar for anti-IgE and anti-IL-5/5R and anti-IL-4R subgroups with younger AAO, but the exacerbation rate reduction diminished for patients with older AAO receiving anti-IgE therapy, particularly with asthma onset age ≥40 years. Clinicians should consider age of onset in biologic treatment decisions, given reduced effectiveness of omalizumab in patients with asthma onset at age ≥40 years. NCT03373045.

The association of use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) with the age of asthma onset is unknown. To explore the association of past 30-day ENDS use with the age of asthma onset in adults and youths who did not have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and never used cigarettes. This cohort study was a secondary analysis of waves 1 to 6 of the US nationally representative Population of Tobacco and Health Study (2013-2021). Eligible participants included adults (≥18 years) and youths (12-17 years) who did not have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the first wave of participation. Data analysis was conducted from September 2022 to April 2024. Past 30-day ENDS use at the first wave of participation in the study preceding the onset of asthma. Lower and upper age limits were estimated using the age reported at the first wave of participation and the number of weeks between follow-up waves until asthma was first reported or censored. The association of past 30-day ENDS use with the age of asthma onset was estimated using weighted interval-censoring Cox regression. The cumulative hazard function for the age of asthma onset was estimated using interval-censoring survival analysis. A total of 24 789 participants were included, with 7766 adults (4461 female [weighted percentage, 59.11%] and 3305 male [weighted percentage, 40.89%]), representing 80.0 million adults, and 17 023 youths (8514 female [weighted percentage, 50.60%] and 8496 male [weighted percentage 49.32%]), representing 33.9 million youths. By age 27 years, 6.2 per 1000 adults reported asthma incidence (hazard ratio [HR], 0.62%; 95% CI, 0.46%-0.75%). While controlling for covariates, there was a 252% increased risk of the onset of asthma at earlier ages for adults who used ENDS in the past 30 days vs adults who did not (adjusted HR, 3.52; 95% CI, 1.24-10.02). For youths, there was no association of ENDS use in the past 30 days with age of asthma onset (adjusted HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 0.67-4.77), which could be due to a lack of statistical power. In this cohort study, past 30-day ENDS use among adults was associated with earlier ages of asthma onset. These findings suggest that prevention and cessation programs directed to adults who use ENDS are needed to educate the public, protect public health, prevent adverse health outcomes, and motivate users to stop. Furthermore, modifying symptom-screening asthma guidelines, resulting in earlier asthma detection and treatment, may reduce morbidity and mortality due to asthma.

ObjectiveTo explore the association of hookah use on the age of asthma onset among adults who were asthma/COPD free and who did not use cigarettes, cigars, electronic cigarettes or smokeless tobacco prior to asthma onset.MethodsSecondary data analyses were conducted of the waves 1-6 (2013-2021) of the US nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study among adults (>18 years). The four hookahs use exposures evaluated were (1) past 30-day (P30D) hookah use at the first wave of participation, (2) total number of waves before asthma onset in which adults reported P30D hookah use, (3) total number of years since first hookah use, and (4) average length of hookah sessions. Lower and upper age limits were estimated using the age reported at the first wave of participation and the number of weeks between follow-up waves until asthma was first reported or censored. Associations of the exposures on the age of asthma onset were estimated using weighted interval-censoring-Cox-regression.ResultsThe total sample size for analysis was 5,768, representing 66.6 million adults. There was a lack of statistical power to detect differences in the age of asthma onset by (1) P30D hookah use (Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) 3.77, 95CI%: .90-15.71). There was an association between (2) total number of waves of P30D hookah use (AHR 1.72, 95% CI 1.28-2.30), (3) total number of years since first hookah use (AHR 2.94, 95% CI 1.36-6.36), and (4) average length of hookah sessions (AHR 4.52, 95% CI 1.61-12.67) with the age of asthma onset. Females and Hispanics with over one year since first hookah use had higher risk of earlier age of asthma onset.ConclusionPrevention and cessation programs for adults who use hookah are needed to educate the public, protect public health, prevent adverse health outcomes, and motivate hookah users to stop.

Purpose: To quantify the association between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and asthma in Canadian adults and to determine whether age of asthma onset is a moderator of this association. Methods: We used a sample of 74 342 participants with a mean age of 56.4 ± 12.5 from cycle 1.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey. Asthma age of onset was categorized into early-onset (0–20 years) and adult-onset (21–54 years). Three major outcomes were used to estimate the relationship between asthma and CVD, namely: high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Results: Multiple logistic regression models revealed that asthmatics were 43% (OR = 1.43, CI = 1.19–1.72) more likely to have heart disease, and 36% (OR = 1.36, CI = 1.21–1.53) more likely to have high blood pressure than non-asthmatics. There were no consistent results for age of onset with high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke. Conclusion: Using a population-based dataset we confirmed that asthmatics are at increased odds of cardiovascular disease compared to non-asthmatics; furthermore, age of asthma onset did not appear to moderate this relationship. Future research should focus on determining whether asthma severity or allergic/non-allergic phenotypes have a differential effect on the asthma-CVD relationship.

Relation of Adult-Onset Asthma to Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke

Patients with asthma have on average a more rapid decline in FEV (1) as compared with the general population. Recent cluster analysis has revealed different asthma phenotypes that can be distinguished by age of onset and reversibility of airflow limitation. This study aimed at detecting risk factors associated with persistent airflow limitation in patients with the adult onset asthma phenotype. We recruited 88 patients with adult onset (≥ 18 years) asthma from an academic pulmonary outpatient clinic in the Netherlands. The associations of age, age of asthma onset, asthma duration, gender, race, atopy, smoking pack-years, BMI, use of oral corticosteroids with post-bronchodilator FEV (1) /FVC were investigated. Multiple linear regression analysis showed an association of absence of atopy (r = -0.27, B = -0.26, P = 0.01) and male gender (r = 0.31, B = 0.30, P = 0.004) with post-bronchodilator FEV (1) /FVC. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that male patients were 10.8 (CI: 2.6-45.2) times the odds than women to have an FEV (1) /FVC < 0.7, and non-atopic patients were 5.2 (CI: 1.3-20.3) times the odds to have an FEV (1) /FVC < 0.7 than atopic patients. We conclude that in patients with adult onset asthma, male gender and absence of atopy are associated with persistent airflow limitation. This might suggest that amongst patients with adult onset asthma, non-atopic male patients are at increased risk of accelerated decline in lung function.

New Perspectives on Difficult Asthma; Sex and Age of Asthma-Onset Based Phenotypes

Introduction and ObjectivesBiologic efficacy for severe asthma varies depending on age of asthma onset and inflammatory phenotype. This post hoc analysis assessed the effect of tezepelumab in patients with severe,...

Abdominal adiposity may be an important risk factor for uncontrolled asthma in adults, controlling for general obesity. Whether the relationship, if present, is explained by other factors (e.g., asthma onset age, sex, and/or coexisting conditions) is unclear. To examine whether clinically applicable anthropometric measures of abdominal adiposity--waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR)--are related to poorer asthma control in adults with uncontrolled asthma controlling for body mass index (BMI), and whether the relationship (if present) is explained by gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), sleep quality, or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or differs by age of asthma onset or sex. Patients aged 18 to 70 years with uncontrolled asthma (n = 90) participated in a 6-month randomized clinical trial. Baseline measures included sociodemographics, standardized anthropometrics, Asthma Control Test (ACT), GERD Symptom Assessment Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Berlin Questionnaire for Sleep Apnea. Participants (mean [SD] age, 52 [12] yr) were racially and ethnically diverse, 67% women, and 69% overweight or obese, and 71% reported their age of asthma onset was 12 years or older. Participants had uncontrolled asthma (mean [SD] ACT score, 14.9 [3.7]) and low GERD symptoms score (0.6 [0.4]); 67% reported poor sleep quality, and 42% had a high OSA risk. General linear regression results showed that worse ACT scores were significantly associated with every SD increase in waist circumference (β = -1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.96 to -0.16; P = 0.02) and waist-to-height ratio (β = -1.16; 95% CI, -2.00 to -0.33; P = 0.008), controlling for sociodemographics. Waist-to-height ratio remained correlated with ACT (β = -2.30; 95% CI, -4.16 to -0.45; P = 0.02) after further adjusting for BMI. The BMI-controlled relationship between WHtR and ACT did not differ by age of asthma onset or sex (P > 0.05 for interactions) and persisted after additional adjustment for GERD, sleep quality, or OSA scores. Poor sleep quality was associated with worse ACT scores (β = -0.87; 95% CI, -1.71 to -0.03; P = 0.045) controlling for waist-to-height ratio, BMI, and sociodemographics. Abdominal adiposity by waist-to-height ratio and poor sleep quality correlated with poorer asthma control in adults with uncontrolled asthma, after controlling for BMI and sociodemographics. These results warrant replication in larger studies of diverse populations. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT 01725945).

PURPOSE: To determine whether age of asthma onset has an impact on the previously described relationship between asthma and obesity. METHODS: We used Cycle 1.1 (2000/1) of the Canadian Community Health Survey, a nationally representative health survey, which included 6871 participants with asthma. Body mass index was used to categorize participants as normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (25-29.9 kg/m2), and obese (≥30 kg/m2). Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of overweight and obesity by selfreported age of asthma onset, after accounting for age, socioeconomic status, daily fruit and vegetable consumption, and smoking status. RESULTS: In fully adjusted models, females diagnosed with asthma in mid (21-44 y) and later (45-64 y) life were 43% (OR= 1.43, 1.08-1.90) and 56% (OR= 1.56, 1.00-2.44) more likely to be obese than those diagnosed in childhood (0-11y), respectively. Only males diagnosed with asthma in adolescence (12-20 y) were at elevated odds of obesity (OR= 1.58, 95% CI: 1.03-2.43), compared to asthmatics diagnosed during childhood. CONCLUSIONS: Age of asthma onset does not have a uniform impact on the asthma-obesity relationship in males and females. Nonetheless, lifestyle interventions may be an important component of asthma management in certain age of onset cohorts.

The natural course of asthma may differ depending on the age of onset. To investigate predictors of asthma remission with a focus on the age of asthma onset. The study was a retrospective birth cohort of children with asthma in Saskatchewan, Canada. Using the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health databases, we identified children with a diagnosis of asthma in the first 6 years of life and who had at least 10 years of follow-up after diagnosis (n = 22 563). Of these, we included 6393 children either with persistent asthma (≥1 physician visit or hospitalization for asthma [PVHA] during each year of follow-up) and those who had remission (had PVHA in the first year after diagnosis but at some point during the follow-up no longer received PVHA until end of the study). We used survival analysis to examine associations between remission and age of asthma onset. Of the study participants, 87.2% had early-onset (≤3 years) and 12.8% had late-onset (4-6 years) asthma. Over the 10-years of follow-up, the rate of asthma remission was 37 per 100 person-years. Early-onset asthma (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.10; 95%confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.20), being female (HR = 1.12; 95%CI: 1.07-1.18), living in a rural (HR = 1.20; 95%CI: 1.14-1.27) and medium urban (HR = 1.16; 95%CI: 1.08-1.26) location were positively associated with remission while history of atopy decreased likelihood of remission (HR = 0.73; 95%CI: 0.54-0.97). Most children with asthma experienced remission, especially those with the onset of symptoms within the first 3 years of life.

We assessed the association of asthma prevalence in young adults with susceptibility factors and environmental exposures, taking into account the age at asthma onset. A random sample of the general population, aged 20-44 yrs, in five areas of Spain (Albacete, Barcelona, Galdakao, Huelva, and Oviedo) was selected in the frame of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). Overall, 2,646 subjects (response rate = 60.9%) responded to a respiratory questionnaire and 1,797 (41.4%) finalized a bronchial challenge. Atopy to perennial (odds ratio (OR) = 10.2, 95% confidence interval 4.2-25) and seasonal allergens (11.5, 4.6-28), parental asthma (4.5, 2.5-8.4), and birth order (OR for no older siblings in comparison to having more than two = 3.2, 1.2-9.1) were associated with current asthma whatever the age of asthma onset. Past asthma was associated to a lesser extent with atopy (OR around 3.5 to both perennial and seasonal allergens). Lower respiratory tract infections before the age of 5 yrs (LRTI), having had a pet in childhood, and being born in a younger cohort were associated with asthma starting before the age of 15 yrs, but not after. Male gender was more frequent in childhood asthma and female gender in adulthood. In addition to the known risk factors of asthma (atopy to perennial allergens, parental asthma) we provide evidence for an association of asthma (whatever the age of onset) with sensitization to seasonal allergens, and having less than three older siblings; and for an association of childhood asthma with lower respiratory tract infections.

Age of Asthma Onset, not Severity, Predicts Environmental Allergy Clusters