Aspirin may prevent asthma in adults

Regular use of aspirin may reduce the risk of new-onset asthma in adults by 22 percent, though it may precipitate an attack in asthmatics. However, there is no evidence that aspirin improves symptoms in people who already have asthma, and it may, of course, cause acute breathing difficulties among individuals with aspirin-intolerant asthma. Researchers from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, USA, examined data involving more than 22,000 men randomised to aspirin or placebo. The healthy subjects, aged 40 to 84 years and free of asthma at baseline in 1982, were randomly assigned to a single 325-mg tablet of aspirin or placebo on alternate days. This aspect of the study was terminated after an average of 5 years because of the reduction in risk of a first heart attack associated with aspirin use. The risk of newly diagnosed asthma was reduced by 22 percent in the aspirin arm of the study. The analysis of data showed that the reduction in new diagnoses of asthma was greater among those who had never smoked and among those who were older than 46 years at baseline. They point out that aspirin-intolerant asthma affects 4 percent to 11 percent of asthma patients, particularly adults, who may respond to an aspirin challenge with a severe asthmatic attack due to bronchospasm (felt as tightness in the chest). So, while the researchers propose that aspirin may decrease the onset of asthma in adults, they do not imply that aspirin improves symptoms in patients with asthma.