Hospitalisation rate for asthma in US women sailors doubles
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《英国医生杂志》
Rates of hospitalisation for asthma among women in the US navy have doubled over 20 years, research shows. Women in the navy are also three times more likely to be hospitalised for asthma than their male counterparts.
The research, which is reported in the Annals of Epidemiology (available online ahead of publication at www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/aep) and based on more than nine million person years of data, shows that over the two decades from 1980 a total of 3911 patients (2916 men and 995 women) were hospitalised for asthma for the first time.
The age adjusted incidence of hospitalisation was 110 per 100 000 person years among women, compared with 35 per 100 000 person years among men. The incidence among black women, 186 per 100 000 person years, was twice that among white women (99 per 100 000 person years).
The report also shows that rates of hospitalisation in women rose in all age groups after the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991. Among men the rates remained stable over the whole period.
The authors say that because US navy policy does not allow enlistment of people with a history of asthma (unless they have had no symptoms after the age of 12 and have passed a pulmonary function challenge test), the study is generally concerned with the incidence of adult onset asthma.
They say the reason for the rise in hospitalisation rates for asthma among women in the navy is unknown but point out that women started to serve aboard combat ships during the study period.
"In addition, women were newly assigned to industrial occupations ashore that were formerly performed exclusively by men, such as maintenance of machinery and some types of engines. It is theoretically possible that the expanded duties of women may have resulted in their exposure to unknown environmental agents, which could possibly have triggered asthma or asthma-like symptoms in predisposed individuals," write the authors, who are from the University of California and the Naval Health Research Center.
Trends in cigarette smoking could not explain the rise, they add.
The report says that the relatively high rate among the youngest age group of women supports the need for greater screening for asthma at time of enlistment. A recent downward trend in hospitalisation in the youngest Navy service members indicates that some more aggressive efforts at screening may have been partly successful.(Abergavenny Roger Dobson)
The research, which is reported in the Annals of Epidemiology (available online ahead of publication at www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/aep) and based on more than nine million person years of data, shows that over the two decades from 1980 a total of 3911 patients (2916 men and 995 women) were hospitalised for asthma for the first time.
The age adjusted incidence of hospitalisation was 110 per 100 000 person years among women, compared with 35 per 100 000 person years among men. The incidence among black women, 186 per 100 000 person years, was twice that among white women (99 per 100 000 person years).
The report also shows that rates of hospitalisation in women rose in all age groups after the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991. Among men the rates remained stable over the whole period.
The authors say that because US navy policy does not allow enlistment of people with a history of asthma (unless they have had no symptoms after the age of 12 and have passed a pulmonary function challenge test), the study is generally concerned with the incidence of adult onset asthma.
They say the reason for the rise in hospitalisation rates for asthma among women in the navy is unknown but point out that women started to serve aboard combat ships during the study period.
"In addition, women were newly assigned to industrial occupations ashore that were formerly performed exclusively by men, such as maintenance of machinery and some types of engines. It is theoretically possible that the expanded duties of women may have resulted in their exposure to unknown environmental agents, which could possibly have triggered asthma or asthma-like symptoms in predisposed individuals," write the authors, who are from the University of California and the Naval Health Research Center.
Trends in cigarette smoking could not explain the rise, they add.
The report says that the relatively high rate among the youngest age group of women supports the need for greater screening for asthma at time of enlistment. A recent downward trend in hospitalisation in the youngest Navy service members indicates that some more aggressive efforts at screening may have been partly successful.(Abergavenny Roger Dobson)