In older adults with asthma, female sex presents a disadvantage in both asthma prevalence and control due to socioeconomic sex-related disadvantages and the frequency of comorbidities, according to a study published in the Journal of Asthma. In a multicenter, cross-sectional asthma database registry, Dilek Karadoğan, MD, and colleagues collected data of older adults (aged 65 and older) with asthma. The study team compared sex and asthma control levels using an asthma symptom control questionnaire. Of 2,053 (11.5%) patients, 227 were older adults (median age, 69 [8]; women, 75.8% [n = 172]). A total of 46.5% of patients in this group had more obesity, hypertension, and thyroid gland disease when compared with men. In addition, women had lower income levels, education, and employment rates than men. Besides being female (OR: 2.99; 95% CI, 1.307-6.880), a predicted FEV1 value lower than 80% (OR: 2.938; 95% CI, 1.451-5.948) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (OR: 2.855; 95% CI, 1.330-6.130), were linked with poorly controlled asthma.
