Researchers examined the patient history of 648 people with asthma, including the medications used to control their symptoms, noting any previous diagnoses of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis.
They discovered that with severe asthma were almost 9 times more at risk of pulmonary embolism,. People with mild-moderate asthma tended to have a 3.5-times increased risk of pulmonary embolism. The study also identified oral corticosteroids as a potential risk factor for pulmonary embolism.
“This is the first time a link has been found between asthma and pulmonary embolism and we believe these results have important clinical implications,” said lead author Christof Majoor, MD, from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. “Our findings suggest that people with severe asthma have an increased risk of pulmonary embolism and doctors should increase their awareness of the possibility of this occurrence in order to help prevent this serious event.”
