Do hormonal contraceptives influence asthma severity?

There is some evidence that endogenous progesterone and oestrogen levels in fluence asthma severity in females, but little is known about the effects o f hormonal contraceptives. This study aimed to describe how females with as thma perceived the effects of hormonal contraceptives on symptom severity, and to describe the association between asthma severity and current use of hormonal contraceptives. A questionnaire was sent to 891 females with asthma aged 20-30 yrs recruite d from general practice registers in South London, UK. It asked about perce ptions of the effects of hormonal contraceptives on asthma severity, about current use of hormonal contraceptives, and included an asthma quality of l ife questionnaire as a measure of asthma severity. About 6% of respondents who had ever used hormonal contraceptives reported that these had influenced asthma severity, similar to 4% reporting worsenin g and 2% fin improvement. There were no significant differences in asthma q uality of life score between females currently taking hormonal contraceptiv es and those not, between those taking combined and progesterone-only prepa rations, or between users of different progestagen types. This study found no evidence of any important effect of hormonal contracept ives or their components on asthma severity in a group of females with rela tively mild asthma.