NewDelhi Apr 28 : A nonprofit organisation has has warned that women with asthma are twice as likely as men to die from an asthma episode.
More than two-thirds of asthma deaths in the UK over the last five years have been among women, according to Asthma + Lung UK, which has called for more to be done to address the “stark health inequality.”
Asthma is a breathing disorder in which the airways narrow, swell, and generate excess mucus, making it difficult to breathe.
Wheezing, dyspnea, chest tightness, and coughing are all symptoms.
Asthma affects approximately 136 million women worldwide. Over the last five years in the UK, more than 5,100 women have died from asthma attacks, compared to less than 2,300 men, according to the data.
Many people are unaware that changes in female sex hormones can cause asthma symptoms to flare up or possibly provoke life-threatening attacks, according to the study
Asthma is more common and severe in boys during childhood. After puberty, however, the situation changes, and asthma in women becomes more common and severe, according to the findings.
The present “one size fits all” approach to asthma treatment, according to the charity, is “not working” because it ignores the impact that female sex hormones have on asthma symptoms and attacks during puberty, periods, pregnancy, and menopause.
It went on to say that more has to be done to address “severe health disparities.”
“Gaps in our knowledge are failing women, leaving them struggling with debilitating asthma symptoms, stuck in a cycle of being in and out of hospital and in some cases, losing their lives,” Sara Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma + Lung UK, was quoted as saying.
“There is not enough research into why women are more likely to be hospitalised and die from asthma and what treatments, new and existing, could help women,” added Mome Mukherjee, researcher at the University of Edinburgh.