Immunology|The research results show that the risk of getting pneumonia is almost three times higher in people with severe asthma compared to people with less severe asthma.
Finnish research has found links between cortisone-based asthma medications used to treat severe asthma and serious illnesses. In an extensive research project was observed the connection of these drugs to pneumonia in particular. A connection was also found with, for example, osteoporosis, cataracts, obesity and heart failure.
Almost 30,000 Finns suffer from transiently severe or persistently severe asthma. Asthma is an inflammatory lung disease, the typical symptoms of which are cough, shortness of breath and wheezing.
“The risk is seen with large doses of inhaled steroids, which is clearly a new finding in asthma patients,” says the professor who worked on the research project Hannu Kankaanranta to STT in a telephone interview.
Inhaled steroids are cortisone-containing, inhaled asthma medications that are dosed and inhaled through an inhaler, or more commonly known as an asthma pipe. It is a basic asthma medicine that is used by almost all asthmatics.
Previously, according to Kankaanranta, it was thought that there would be no additional risk of serious side-effects when using it. Previous studies have found an increased risk of pneumonia in patients with COPD, but not in asthmatics.
Kankaanranta, who works as a professor at the University of Tampere and the University of Gothenburg, says that the findings are globally significant, as the research brings new information in terms of the treatment of asthma patients and the adverse effects of drugs.
About research results it turns out that the risk of getting pneumonia is almost three times higher in people with severe asthma compared to people with less severe asthma.
However, according to the study, the risk of serious diseases increases for users of inhaled steroids only in high doses. Asthma pipe users who survive with small and moderate doses can therefore still have no worries.
Large doses of inhaled cortisone medication are usually for patients with persistently severe or transiently severe asthma.
Inhalable inhaled steroids and tablets used during asthma exacerbations are cortisone-based drugs. They calm down asthma, but at the same time weaken the immune system. According to Kankaanranta, the weakening of the immune system may be the reason for the increased risk of pneumonia in long-term and abundant use of the drug.
The professor adds that the increased risk of osteoporosis can be explained by the knowledge from studies that cortisone affects gene regulation. So far, it has remained a mystery why the use of asthma medications is associated with heart disease.
“The connection could be in weight gain, which would increase systemic inflammation and then show up as an increase in heart disease, but we can’t directly say this,” Kankaanranta reflects.
For years The results of the research project called Finasthma, which lasted for 20 years, were published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, one of the leading publications in the research field, in January of this year. The study was funded by the pharmaceutical company GSK.
Information on more than 190,000 Finns with asthma was obtained from THL’s primary health care and specialized medical care treatment notification registers and from Kela’s medical records.
The study examined almost all Finns who had asthma in the years 2014–2017.
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