Journal
ALLERGY
Volume 65, Issue 10, Pages 1306-1312Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2009.02314.x
Keywords
asthma; breath condensate; eosinophils; hormones; menopause; neutrophils; nitric oxide; pH
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P>Background: Female hormones play an important role in women's lung health, especially in asthma pathophysiology. Although a growing interest has recently been aroused in asthma related to short-term reproductive states, menopausal asthma has been little studied in the past. The aim of the present study was to explore airway inflammation in menopausal asthmatic women in a noninvasive manner. Methods: Forty consecutive women with menopausal asthma, 35 consecutive women with premenopausal asthma and 30 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Urinary LTE-4, induced sputum inflammatory cells, and exhaled LTE-4, IL-6, pH, and NO levels were measured in all the subjects enrolled. Results: Women with menopausal asthma showed decreased estradiol concentrations, high sputum neutrophils, and exhaled IL-6. Women with premenopausal asthma presented instead an essentially eosinophilic inflammatory pattern. Higher urine and breath condensate LTE-4 concentrations were found in premenopausal and menopausal asthma compared to controls. Conclusion: Our results substantiate the existence of a new biological phenotype of menopausal asthma that is mainly characterized by neutrophilic airways inflammation and shares several characteristics of the severe asthma phenotype.
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