Asthma is a chronic respiratory disorder when the airways leading to the lungs get inflamed. As the hormones change, Pre-pubertal girls often suffer from severe asthma attacks and this condition aggravates with age . This is apparent during menopause as it is seen that the ratio of women to men suffering from asthma is two to one. Women are exposed to potential sources of asthma-like- biomass fuels (household chulhas and Ovens), smoking( both passive and active), alcohol consumption and other environmental factors. The hormone level fluctuates during menstrual periods.
According to researchers, 27 percent of women suffering from asthma were also likely to face difficulties getting pregnant. There is an increased risk of becoming infertile with a lack of treatment and as treatment gets delayed.
The negative effect of asthma on infertility is reduced by treatment, it is assumed that the systemic inflammation exhibited by the asthmatic patients may be the precipitating factor for delaying fertility, according to Dr. Gade. However overall results suggest that women suffering from asthma had the ability to conceive the same number of children, as they tend to conceive at an earlier age compared to others thus not facing much of a barrier to pregnancy.
According to the World Health Organization, asthma is a respiratory disease characterised by chronic inflammation of air passages leading to and from the lungs. Currently, an approximate of 235 million people are suffering from asthma and it is considered the most common chronic disease in children. Asthma attacks, affect children and adults with bouts of breathlessness and spasms caused by inflammation in the airways and lungs.
Health care professionals are of the opinion that inflammation of the airways caused by asthma has widespread effects in other parts of the body, not only to the parts related to the respiratory circuit. Women who received medication for asthma, usually anti-inflammatory medication, were less likely to become infertile.
This explains that the inflammatory part of asthma may be affecting the fallopian tube and not just the bronchial tubes.