Case report, 1996
Can asthma get worse before your period?
One case report describes a young woman whose asthma attacks repeatedly happened just before her period without any other known triggers, suggesting the menstrual cycle affected her asthma.
What they did
The case of one young woman with asthma was described. Her asthma episodes consistently occurred in the days before her period, and she had no other asthma trigger factors present during these episodes.
What they found
The woman's asthma attacks reliably happened in the days before menstruation and were sometimes severe. No other known asthma trigger factors were identified.
What it means for you
This case suggests that the menstrual cycle may affect asthma in some women, but this is not well understood or widely accepted. The main limit is that this is just one woman's experience, so we don't know how common this is or if it would apply to other women. There is little agreement among doctors about whether the menstrual cycle actually affects how asthma behaves in different people.
1
woman described in the case report
About the study
- Original title
- "Ovarian asthma"-- act or fancy?
- Authors
- Gotthardt M, Clark JD, Roy TM
- Journal
- The Journal of the Kentucky Medical Association
- Year
- 1996
- Study design
- Case report
- What was tested
- None; this was a case report
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8820574/