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Higher risk for developing zoster observed in adult patients with asthma
A significant association between asthma and development of zoster in adults aged 50 years or older was observed in a study recently published in Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
“Asthma might be an unrecognized risk factor for zoster in adults, and the effect of asthma on the risk of microbial infections or immune dysfunction might go beyond the airways. This could be true also for atopic dermatitis,” Hyo Jin Kwon, MD, from the departments of pediatric and adolescent medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues wrote. “Consideration should be given to immunizing adults 50 years or older with asthma or atopic dermatitis as a target group for zoster vaccine.”
Kwon and colleagues identified 371 patients with zoster (66% women; 94% white; mean age 66.8 ± 10.7 years) and matched each to two control patients (control group n = 742).
Kwon and colleagues linked every patient (371 patients) with zoster with two matched patients in a control group (742 patients), according to the abstract. There were 246 female patients (66%) in the zoster group and 348 patients (94%) in the cohort were Caucasian with a mean age of 66.8 ± 10.7 years.
The researchers found 23% (n = 87) of patients in the zoster group and 15% (n = 114) of the control patients had an asthma history (OR = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.26-2.39), according to the abstract. After adjusting for potential confounders, the researchers found a significant association between asthma and zoster (adjusted OR = 1.70; 95% CI, 1.20-2.42) that was independent of age. However, the mean age for developing asthma was 49.1 ± 17.5 years in the study, with a higher age in the zoster group (50.4 ± 16.8 years) compared with the control group (48.2 ± 18.0 years).
“Asthma represents one of the five most burdensome chronic diseases in the U.S., affecting up to 17 percent of the population,” researcher Young Juhn, MD, general academic pediatrician and asthma epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic Children's Research Center, said in a press release. “The effect of asthma on the risk of infection or immune dysfunction might very well go beyond the airways. As asthma is an unrecognized risk factor for zoster in adults, consideration should be given to immunizing adults aged 50 years and older with asthma or atopic dermatitis as a target group for zoster vaccination.” – by Jeff Craven
Disclosure: Kwon reports research support from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Scholarly Clinician Award from the Mayo Foundation. Please see the full study for all other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.