Survey study, 2010
How many women with asthma notice their asthma gets worse before their period?
About 44% showed measurable asthma worsening before menstruation when tracked over two cycles, though only about 54% of those who experienced worsening actually noticed it.
What they did
Researchers studied 103 women with asthma who could still menstruate. They asked women if their asthma got worse before menstruation. They tracked asthma symptoms in a daily register over two consecutive menstrual cycles and also measured peak flow (how well air moves through the lungs).
What they found
43.7% of women reported their asthma gets worse before menstruation. When symptoms were tracked with a daily register, 44.7% showed measurable worsening of 20% or more in the first cycle and 22.3% had worsening in both cycles. Of women with measurable worsening in the first cycle, 54.3% reported noticing it, compared to 35.1% of women without measurable worsening who still reported noticing it. Premenstrual asthma worsening occurred at all levels of asthma severity.
What it means for you
About half of women with asthma may experience worsening before menstruation. Many women don't notice the worsening even when it happens, suggesting some changes are subtle. The mismatch between what women reported and what was measured makes it hard to know the true rate. The study looked at different ways of detecting the worsening, which didn't always match.
43.7%
reported asthma worsening before menstruation
44.7%
showed measurable worsening in first cycle
22.3%
showed worsening in both cycles
About the study
- Original title
- Variability in the prevalence of premenstrual asthma
- Authors
- Pereira Vega A, Sánchez Ramos JL, Maldonado Pérez JA et al.
- Journal
- The European respiratory journal
- Year
- 2010
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 103
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1183/09031936.00045109