Women Develop More Severe Asthma

Men are more likely to develop asthma as children, whereas women are more likely to develop asthma after the age of 30, according to the findings of a study published in the August 2002 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. This study of the incidence of asthma from birth to age 44 in 18,873 subjects showed that:

• Early-onset asthma affects 3.8/1000 persons per year in boys younger than age 15
• Late-onset asthma affects 3.1/1000 persons per year in women age 30 years and older

The age of asthma onset is important because people with early-onset asthma have, on average, a shorter duration of the disease and a higher remission rate than people with late-onset asthma (68% vs 25%).