PULMOLOGIJA
Can
Aspirin Prevent Asthma ?
Daily
pill reduced risk of adult-onset disease by 22 percent, study found
By Serena Gordon, HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Jan. 15 (HealthDay
News) -- Can taking an aspirin each day stop asthma from developing in adults?
Maybe, suggests new research
published in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that found adult-onset
asthma risk was reduced by 22 percent in men who were already taking a daily aspirin for heart-disease prevention.
"Our findings suggest that
low-dose aspirin may have beneficial effects on asthma," said study co-author Dr. Tobias Kurth, an assistant professor of
medicine and an associate epidemiologist in the division of aging at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
But, Kurth added, it's too
soon to recommend that anyone start using daily aspirin solely for asthma prevention.
As many as 20 million Americans
have asthma, according to the American Academy
of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). Despite advances in treatment, about 5,000 people die due to asthma every year
in the United States, the AAAAI reports.
The incidence of asthma
has been rising in recent years, according to background information in the study. And that rise coincides with the decreased
use of aspirin as people have switched to other over-the-counter pain relievers, or avoided aspirin use in children due to
concerns about Reyes syndrome. That led some researchers to wonder if the reduction in aspirin use was contributing to the
rise of asthma.
To test that hypothesis,
Kurth and his colleagues reviewed data from the Physicians' Health Study, which began in 1982. They included data from 22,071
male physicians between the ages of 40 and 84. The physicians were randomly assigned to receive either a daily dose of 325
milligrams of aspirin or a placebo. The original aim of the research was to study aspirin's role in heart-disease prevention.
During the five-year study
period, 113 new cases of asthma were diagnosed in the 11,037-member aspirin group, compared with 145 in the placebo group.
This represented a 22 percent decrease in the risk of developing asthma for those taking low-dose aspirin.
Kurth said the researchers
weren't able to study the reasons why aspirin might have this preventive effect against asthma, but theorized that aspirin's
anti-inflammatory effects might play a role.
He did caution, however,
that for some people who already have asthma, aspirin can be an irritant that can actually trigger asthma symptoms.
"This is a complex issue
and is more of a study for the research community," said Kurth. The question for researchers now, he said, is "for those at
risk of getting asthma, should they be treated with aspirin or not?"
Dr. Rick Vinuya, an allergist
and immunologist at Providence Hospital
and Medical Center in Southfield, Mich., echoed Kurth's comments.
"Any time you have an intervention
to prevent the onset of disease, it's exciting, and a 22 percent reduction in risk is huge. But, that excitement is tempered
because this is not a cause-and-effect study, but an epidemiological one. This study needs to be followed up with a study
specifically designed to answer whether aspirin really does have an affect and how does it work?"
Right now, Vinuya said,
no one should start taking aspirin to prevent asthma. "This study adds on to the beneficial effects of aspirin. It's a healthy
practice to take aspirin to prevent heart attacks and now it looks as if a secondary benefit is a possible decrease in the
development of asthma. But, asthma prevention can't be the primary reason for taking daily aspirin," he said.
More information
To learn more about aspirin's
role in heart attack and stroke prevention, visit the American Heart Association.
