TY - JOUR
T1 - Female Asthma Has a Negative Effect on Fertility
T2 - What Is the Connection?
AU - Juul Gade, Elisabeth
AU - Thomsen, Simon Francis
AU - Lindenberg, Svend
AU - Backer, Vibeke
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Reproductive changes such as impaired fertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes have been related to female asthma. We recently found that time to pregnancy is prolonged in asthmatic females especially in women with moderate to severe asthma and in those above 30 years of age. Despite their reproductive difficulties the asthmatics ultimately conceived just as many biological children as healthy throughout their reproductive lives. This knowledge therefore raises questions about how asthma affects fertility pathophysiologically. The purpose of this review is to describe the existing knowledge in this field and suggest hypotheses of causal relationships, which may form the basis for future studies in this field. The aim is, in particular, in the literature to examine whether there is any evidence to suggest that the systemic inflammation that characterizes asthma, can affect fertility. The issue is potentially clinically important for asthmatic, infertile individuals and society because treatment of the general systemic inflammation associated with the asthmatic disease combined with hormone stimulation might be the optimal target for an effective infertility therapy, possibly decreasing the need for in vitro fertilization.
AB - Reproductive changes such as impaired fertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes have been related to female asthma. We recently found that time to pregnancy is prolonged in asthmatic females especially in women with moderate to severe asthma and in those above 30 years of age. Despite their reproductive difficulties the asthmatics ultimately conceived just as many biological children as healthy throughout their reproductive lives. This knowledge therefore raises questions about how asthma affects fertility pathophysiologically. The purpose of this review is to describe the existing knowledge in this field and suggest hypotheses of causal relationships, which may form the basis for future studies in this field. The aim is, in particular, in the literature to examine whether there is any evidence to suggest that the systemic inflammation that characterizes asthma, can affect fertility. The issue is potentially clinically important for asthmatic, infertile individuals and society because treatment of the general systemic inflammation associated with the asthmatic disease combined with hormone stimulation might be the optimal target for an effective infertility therapy, possibly decreasing the need for in vitro fertilization.
U2 - 10.1155/2014/131092
DO - 10.1155/2014/131092
M3 - Review
C2 - 25101180
SN - 2090-4452
VL - 2014
SP - 1
EP - 6
JO - International Scholarly Research Notices
JF - International Scholarly Research Notices
M1 - 131092
ER -