Inhaled anti-asthma therapies following hormone therapy in women: a nationwide cohort study

Research question Does menopausal hormone therapy with exogenous estrogens and progestogens change the use of inhaled anti-asthma medications in women with asthma?

Methods In a population-based, matched cohort study using the Danish registries, we included women with asthma aged 45–65 years from June 1, 1995 to June 30, 2018. We investigated whether hormone therapy with estrogen and/or progestogens was associated with changes in use of inhaled anti-asthma therapies in the 12 months following initiation. We used exposure density matching to match exposed subjects with unexposed subjects on age, household income and level of education. An exposed subject was defined as receiving hormone therapy. We calculated mean dose of medications and odds ratios of increases in the 12 months following hormone therapy initiation.

Results We included 139 483 women with asthma, of whom 116 014 (83.2%) were unexposed subjects and 23 469 (16.8%) exposed subjects. Mean age was 53.0 (sd 5.2) years. Initiation of HT was not consistently associated with increased mean doses of inhaled corticosteroids, or long- and short-acting beta₂-agonists. Women receiving systemic estrogens had increased odds ratios of large increases (>100 µg) in inhaled corticosteroids at six months (1.09; 95%CI 1.04–1.13; p<0.001) and nine months (1.07; 95%CI 1.03–1.12; p<0.001). Progestogens were protective against increases in inhaled corticosteroids at six and nine months (OR 0.87; 95%CI 0.82–0.93; p<0.001 and 0.86; 95%CI 0.81–0.91; p<0.001).

Conclusion Initiation of hormone therapy did not change the use of inhaled medications in asthma. However, detrimental effects of estrogen, as well as beneficial effects of progestogens, cannot be excluded.