Nurses' health study: HRT may worsen asthma; Stopping HRT in those with severe or uncontrolled asthma may be warranted. (Preliminary Data).

PHILADELPHIA -- Hormone replacement therapy appears to worsen asthma, especially in women who had asthma before menopause.

The causal link between estrogen use and exacerbation of asthma is preliminary, but it is suggestive enough to warrant stopping hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in women with severe or uncontrolled asthma to see whether their condition improves, Dr. R. Graham Barr said at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.

The finding came from a study of 2,757 postmenopausal women who had confirmed asthma, part of the 121,701 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study.

Of the women with asthma, 23% reported current use of estrogen, 18% reported current use of combined estrogen and progestin, 19% reported past use of HRT, and 40% reported no HRT use.

In addition, 65% of the women had their asthma diagnosed before menopause.

Among women who had asthma before menopause, following menopause the risk of hospitalization or need for an urgent hospital visit for asthma was an average 80% higher among women taking estrogen, compared with those who had no HRT. This difference was statistically significant, reported Dr. Barr of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.

Women who ...