Higher testosterone levels among women may reduce asthma risk

Women have a higher predilection for asthma than men. The researchers tried to explore the role of sex hormones to explain sex differences in asthma. They, therefore, conducted a study to examine sex hormone levels and asthma in adults.

The investigators found that elevated levels of serum testosterone appeared to be significantly associated with a reduced risk for asthma in women. Findings from the study suggest that sex hormones play a key role in the widely recognized gender differences in asthma presentation among adults and obesity modifies this risk, researchers reported. The most obvious explanation for this is hormonal changes, but to our surprise, there had not been a lot of research examining the objective management of hormones in asthma," said Celedón

In children and adolescents, the prevalence of asthma is higher among boys than girls, but adult women have higher rates of asthma compared with men, noted Juan Celedón, MD, DrPH, of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and colleagues in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Boys younger than 18 also have higher rates of asthma-related mortality than girls do, but in adulthood, asthma-related mortality is higher among women.

The cross-sectional study showed that very elevated levels of free testosterone in women (fourth quartile vs the first quartile) were associated with a lower risk of asthma (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.39-0.80).

Among obese women, both elevated free testosterone (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.37-0.91) and elevated estradiol (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.23-0.78) were linked to lower

Our findings suggest that sex hormones play a role in known sex differences in asthma in adults. Moreover, our results suggest that obesity modifies the effects of sex hormones on asthma in adults. 

For more details click on the link: https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201905-0996OC