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Late-onset asthma may increase risk for CV events
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Adults with late-onset asthma were 57% more likely to experience a CV event compared with those without asthma, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Using the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, researchers evaluated 1,269 participants who were free of CVD at baseline and were followed for a mean of 14 years for CV events including angina, cardiac revascularization, CV death, HF and stroke. The mean age of the cohort was 47 years.
Overall, 166 participants had asthma: 55 with early-onset asthma and 111 with late-onset asthma.
“Though it’s usually not recognized as such, there are several types of asthma, each with some unique features,” Matthew C. Tattersall, DO, MS, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, said in a press release. “We looked at the type known as late-onset asthma, which tends to be more severe and more difficult to control with medicines than asthma that begins in childhood.”
Late-onset asthma is triggered by different factors, such as air pollution and can lead to a decline in lung function, which has been linked to compromised lung function and CVD, according to the researchers.
In this study, participants with late-onset asthma were more likely to be female (67% vs. 44%), have a higher BMI (32.2 kg/m2 vs. 29.4 kg/m2) and to be using antihypertensive medication (22% vs. 13%). The mean age at asthma diagnosis was 9 years in the early-onset group compared with 39 years in the late-onset group.
According to the findings, the adjusted risk for incident CVD was higher among participants with late-onset asthma compared with those without asthma (HR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.01-2.45). The adjusted risk for incident CVD was not different among participants with early-onset asthma compared with those without asthma (HR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.4-1.65).
The researchers reported no interaction between age of asthma diagnosis and BMI with incident CVD. – by Dave Quaile
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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