Low-Dose Aspirin for Lesser Risk of Asthma

Filed in archive Studies , Treatment on January 18, 2007

According to a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled Physicians' Health Study appearing in the second issue for January 2007 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (journal of American Thoracic Society), intake of low-dose aspirin every other day lowered the risk of receiving an initial asthma diagnosis by 22%.

[Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes potentially reversible obstructive lung problems. Breathing difficulties from asthma usually occur during "attacks," which involve narrowing of the airways, swelling of the lining, tightening of respiratory muscles and an increased secretion of mucus.]

The study's lead investigator, Tobias Kurth, M.D., Sc.D. (of the Division of Aging at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts) stated that while the results of the study may reduce the development of asthma in adults, they do not imply that aspirin improves symptoms in patients who already have asthma.

The later (reduction in asthma incidence caused by aspirin) still needs to be confirmed in future studies.

Read the full report.

[Photo Credit: How Stuff Works]