While asthmatic patients experience breathing problems, women who are suffering from respiratory disorders may take more time to get pregnant and have a lower pregnancy rate than those without the lung diseases said health experts on World Asthma Day.
According to a new international research, 96 per cent of women with unexplained fertility issues were found to be asthmatic. About 60 per cent of women without asthma got pregnant, compared with just 40 per cent of those with asthma, the study showed. The gap between the two groups increased with age, according to the study published in the European Respiratory Journal.
Dr Archana Dhawan Bajaj, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician, Nurture IVF Centre has urged women with asthma to conceive at an early age and step up their asthma treatment before getting pregnant. Awareness should be created among patients is as fundamentally significance as adherence to treatment might. It is important that women take utmost care when conceiving, Dr Bajaj.
Dr Randeep Guleria, Head of Department, Pulmonology & Sleep Disorder at AIIMS says, “Women having asthma must be careful as they suffer a severe form of asthmatic attack when compared to men. This is majorly due to the female hormonal changes. This makes asthma more severe in women and ability to breathe can be affected by menstrual cycle, pregnancy and eventually menopause. Women needs to be very careful of asthma triggers like use of biomass fuels (for cooking), passive smoking, smoking, alcohol consumption and other environmental factors along with their fluctuating hormones, during different time of month. To further compound the problem, asthma in women is a much stigmatised condition.