What does asthma, an inflammatory disease of the lungs that
causes breathing problems, have to do with your heart?
According to new
research, active asthma can double the risk of a
cardiovascular event like a heart attack, stroke, or related condition, and taking
daily medication for asthma can increase the risk of a cardiovascular event by
60 percent over 10 years.
An inhaler, it turns out, can both rescue and endanger.
Asthma and heart disease may at first seem to have little in
common — one affects your respiratory system and the other your cardiovascular
system.
But the two are among the top five most burdensome diseases in the United
States, and two studies presented at the American Heart Association’s
Scientific Sessions 2014 this weekend examined the ties between them.
One study found that those with asthma who require daily controller
medication are 60 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event like a
heart attack during a 10-year period. The other finding may be even more
striking.
Those with active asthma (meaning current asthma symptoms) or asthma medication
use, and those who sought treatment for asthma within the previous year, are twice
as likely to have a heart attack than those without active asthma.
“Chest discomfort or pain can be confused as a symptom of
asthma,” said senior author Dr. Young J. Juhn, M.P.H., a professor of
pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in a statement.
“Because
asthma increases the risk of heart attack and treatments for each are quite
different, patients need to take chest pain and other symptoms of heart attack
seriously and seek prompt treatment.” CONTINUE READING
HEALTHLINE
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