ASTHMA

Randomised aspirin assignment and risk of adult-onset asthma in the Women’s Health Study

T Kurth^1,2,5, R G Barr^3,4, J M Gaziano^1,2,6, J E Buring^1,2,5,7

¹ Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
² Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
³ The Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, ISA
⁴ Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, and Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
⁶ Massachusetts Veteran Epidemiology Research and Information Center, Boston VA Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA
⁷ Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Dr T Kurth, Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 900 Commonwealth Ave East, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA; tkurth{at}rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Background: Randomised data in men show a small but significant reduction in the risk of adult-onset asthma among those given aspirin. The results from an observational study in women suggest that frequent use of aspirin decreases the risk of adult-onset asthma, but randomised data in women are lacking. A study was undertaken to test the effect of 100 mg aspirin or placebo on alternate days on the risk of adult-onset asthma in the Women’s Health Study.

Methods: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of aspirin and vitamin E was performed in apparently healthy women with no indication or contraindication to aspirin therapy and no history of asthma at study entry. Female health professionals self-reported an asthma diagnosis on yearly questionnaires.

Results: Among 37 270 women with no reported history of asthma prior to randomisation and during 10 years of follow-up, there were 872 new cases diagnosed with asthma in the aspirin group and 963 in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0.90; 95% CI 0.82 to 0.99; p = 0.027). This apparent 10% lower relative risk of incident adult-onset asthma among those assigned to aspirin was significantly modified by body mass index, with no effect in women with a body mass index of 30 kg/m². The effect of aspirin on adult-onset asthma was not significantly modified by age, smoking status, exercise levels, postmenopausal hormone use or randomised vitamin E assignment.

Conclusions: In this large randomised clinical trial of apparently healthy adult women, administration of 100 mg aspirin on alternate days reduced the relative risk of a newly reported diagnosis of asthma.

Trial registration number: NCT00000479

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Aspirin and asthma: barking up the right tree?

Andrew A Clayton, Douglas L Forrester, and Alan J Knox
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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Clayton, A. A, Forrester, D. L, Knox, A. J (2008). Aspirin and asthma: barking up the right tree?. Thorax 63: 485-486 [Full Text]