Younger women with asthma and allergy were more likely to have irregular menstruation. This could not be attributed to current use of asthma medication. The association could possibly be explained by common underlying metabolic or developmental factors. The authors hypothesise that insulin resistance may play a role in asthma and allergy.
A study was undertaken to determine whether asthma and allergy were associated with irregular menstruation in a general population, and the potential role of asthma medication for this association.

A total of 8588 women participated in an 8 year follow up postal questionnaire study of participants of the ECRHS stage I in Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Only non-pregnant women not taking exogenous sex hormones were included in the analyses (n = 6137).

Irregular menstruation was associated with asthma ( OR 1.54 ), asthma symptoms ( OR 1.47 ), hay fever ( OR 1.29 ) and asthma preceded by hay fever ( OR 1.95 ) among women aged 26–42 years.
This was also observed in women not taking asthma medication ( asthma symptoms: OR 1.44 ); hay fever: OR 1.27; wheeze preceded by hay fever: OR 1.76.
Irregular menstruation was associated with new onset asthma in younger women ( OR 1.58 ) but not in women aged 42–54 years ( OR 0.62 ).

According to authors, asthma and hay fever seem to be linked to irregular menstruation
The finding adds weight to the evidence, suggesting that female hormones might have a role in the development of asthma and allergies.

Source: Thorax, 2005


XagenaMedicine2005