Proper diagnosis and treatment of Asthma during pregnancy crucial for preventing fetal complications: JAMA

This article highlighted important considerations based on present and previous data.

According to recent data, there was no change in Asthma during pregnancy among those women who already had Asthma, constituting 60 %. But 40% of these women experienced worsening of their symptoms; no individuals had improvement.

This observation differs from the previous one in that one-third of patients experience improvement, one-third have no change, and one-third have worsening symptoms.

Initial diagnosis of Asthma could be established for some patients during pregnancy. It is also important to focus on differential diagnoses like dyspnea, anxiety, inducible laryngeal obstruction, etc. For confirmation of diagnosis, measuring lung function with spirometry can be used.

FeNO (fraction of exhaled nitric oxide) measurement could be used to monitor eosinophilic airway inflammation.

The team said that Treatment barriers for Asthma during pregnancy, patient concerns about the children and inadequate communication between clinicians and patients should be addressed. There are possibilities that pregnant mothers, in view of their fetal safety, may hesitate to start or stop the medication.

Education is important to control and manage Asthma in pregnancy. Stress in pregnancy could be addressed by meditation and exercises. They said An important factor is avoiding exposure to allergens like pests and airborne allergens.

Further reading:

Huang J, Namazy J. Asthma in Pregnancy. JAMA. 2023;329(22):1981–1982. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.5588