Jonathan Bernstein, MD, allergist and professor in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, weighs in on a study that suggests hormone replacement therapy may increase the risk of severe asthma in peri- and post-menopausal women.
Researchers say that starting around puberty, asthma becomes more common and severe in women than in men and that continues in women until around menopause. Sex hormones may partly explain the difference.
"It is clear that some women have worsening of a number of health issues peri-menstrual when there are estrogen and/or progesterone surges, including asthma, migraines, urticaria and hereditary angioedema, among other conditions," Bernstein told a Reuters Health journalist for a story that appeared in Medscape.
