Asthma linked to pulmonary embolism risk
Published on January 8, 2013. By Kirsty Oswald, medwireNews Reporter
"Patients with asthma have an increased risk for pulmonary embolism, show Dutch findings.
In particular, patients with a severe case of the disease are most at risk.
"This is the first time a link has been found between asthma and pulmonary embolism and we believe these results have important clinical implications," said Christof Majoor (Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) in a press statement.
Doctors should therefore increase their awareness and lower the threshold for the evaluation of patients with severe asthma for possible pulmonary embolism.
In addition, we believe that strategies to reduce the risk of pulmonary embolism, such as thromboprophylaxis, may be considered in patients with prednisone-dependent asthma."
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Risk of deep-vein thrombosis and
pulmonary embolism in asthma
Majoor CJ. y col. Eur respir J. 2012 Dec 20. [Epub ahead of print]
"Severe asthma and oral corticosteroid use were independent risk factors of PE (hazard ratios: 3.33 (1.16-9.93) and 2.82 (1.09-7.30), respectively). Asthma was not associated with DVT.Severe asthma greatly enhances the risk of pulmonary embolism, particularly if chronic corticosteroids are used."