Prospective study of menopause and adult-onset asthma: The E3N French cohort

Abstract

While it is acknowledged that asthma incidence increases after puberty in women, it is unknown whether asthma incidence may change after menopause Aim: To investigate the relationships between menopause and asthma incidence Methods: We studied asthma-onset in 68,575 women free of asthma at baseline (mean age 51.2 yrs) and followed-up for 10.4 yrs as part of E3N. Proportional hazard models with menopausal status included as a time-dependent variable were used. Analysis was stratified by use of menopause hormone therapy (MHT) reported at the end of follow-up Results: Asthma-onset was positively associated with younger age, smoking, obesity, increase in BMI over the follow-up and use of MHT. Crude asthma incidence rates are provided in Table. The incidence of asthma was higher after natural menopause as compared to before menopause in MHT ever users (aHR=1.26 95%CI 1.01-1.56), but not in MHT non-users (adjusted HR=1.00 95%CI 0.72-1.40). Women with surgical menopause had a higher risk of asthma onset as compared to women with natural menopause in both MHT never-users (aHR=1.35 95% CI 0.95-1.93; p=0.09) and MHT-users (aHR=1.41 95%CI 1.11-1.79). Conclusion: Menopause transition is not associated with changes in asthma incidence in women with natural menopause not using hormonal treatment. A surgical menopause could increase the risk of asthma onset. | | | MHT never users | | MHT ever users | || | | Event | PY | Incidence (95% CI) | Event | PY | Incidence (95% CI) | | before menopause | 118 | 82677 | 1.43 (1.17-1.69) | 131 | 102246 | 1.28 (1.06-1.50) | | after natural menopause | 169 | 132644 | 1.27 (1.08-1.46) | 473 | 323035 | 1.46 (1.33-1.59) | | after surgical menopause | 42 | 23859 | 1.76 (1.23-2.29) | 82 | 38585 | 2.13 (1.67-2.59) | Crude incidence rates of asthma according to menopause