Here’s some promising news for women with asthma: Women of reproductive age who use hormonal contraceptives, such as thebirth control pill，根据17年study published online November 23, 2020, in the journal胸部。
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性激素影响您的健康
While the connection may seem random, sexhormones如estrogenhave long been thought to affect the likelihood of both the development of哮喘和severity of the disease。“虽然哮喘在男孩中比童年时期的女孩更普遍，但从青春期开始，我们看到全球人口的性别之间的转变，其中女性的发病率比男性高。”Bright Nwaru，博士, an epidemiologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. In other words, sex hormones increase in activity around the time of puberty, just when the哮喘risk轮廓在性别之间翻转。
除了体内发生的天然激素外，合成性激素的影响（例如estrogen and progesterone in the pill) on asthma has been studied frequently over the past several decades. But scientists had not yet reached a consensus on hormones' protective effect. Dr. Nwaru and his team tracked more than 80,000 women over the course of nearly two decades, and they investigated the potential impact of different types of hormonal contraception, how long it was used, and what effect body weight (BMI）和吸烟可能会导致哮喘严重程度。
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药丸，斑块，阴道环和其他激素避孕药可能在哮喘严重程度中起作用
At the beginning of the study, around a third (34 percent) of the women were using hormonal contraceptives: 25 percent combined; 9 percentprogesterone-only. The percentage of women who had severe bouts of asthma rose with advancing age,BMI, and more pregnancies. It was also higher in current and former吸烟者, and among women who had had a gynecological condition.
But they also found that women who take the pill were less likely to have severe asthma. “Our results showed that women who were using hormonal contraceptives, particularly combined contraceptives, but notprogesterone-only contraceptives, were at a small decreased risk of having severe asthma exacerbations than women who did not use hormonal contraceptives,” says Nwaru.
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你去药丸多长时间是一个因素
Nwaru’s team found the length of time that a woman had been taking the pill had a significant impact on its protective effect. Women who had taken hormonal contraceptives for only one or two years didn’t experience a reduction in asthma risk. But those who had taken it for three more years were associated with a lower risk when compared with people who don’t use it at all.
“It’s unclear from our results why long-term use of hormonal contraceptives may be associated with better protection from severe asthma compared to short-term use, but naturally it will be expected that if hormonal contraceptives confer some protection, then their long-term use should offer better benefits,” says Nwaru.
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避孕药的其他健康益处
我们知道该药丸在其预期目的方面非常成功：preventing pregnancy。但是这些药物中发现的激素还提供了其他几种健康津贴。根据计划生育，组合和仅孕激素的药丸都会减少月经来潮, lighten menstrual periods, and lower the risk ofectopic pregnancy。But they also can improveacne，防止骨骼稀疏，减少乳房和ovarian cysts, and lower the risk of endometrial and卵巢癌。
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丹麦语study published in May 2020 in the journal科学报告发现口服避孕可能也带来积极的情感利益。研究人员发现women who took the pill had higher levels of the hormone oxytocin- 通常被称为“爱激素” - 与没有服用的女性相比。
“There is evidence that oral避孕can influence neurohormones and emotional, cognitive, sexual, and social behavior,” says the study author迈克尔·温特达尔（Michael Winterdahl），博士，丹麦的Aarhus大学神经影像学副教授。“更好的理解最终可以改善女性健康and lead to better informed choices on hormonal contraception,” Dr. Winterdahl says.
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谁不应该接受荷尔蒙节育措施？
虽然避孕药易于使用并且高效，但并不建议所有女性使用激素。例如，如果您有偏头痛with aura (vision changes), or have a history of中风or other cardiac problems, or深静脉血栓形成，建议您与医生交谈以了解您是否应该考虑另一个节育选择, notes克里斯汀·卡兰·格雷夫斯（Christine Carlan Greves），医学博士是一名位于佛罗里达州奥兰多的OB-GYN，他没有参与研究。拥有的女人乳腺癌, for example, shouldn't take progesterone, she told Everyday Health. Smokers, and those consideredoverweight or obese, should discuss with their doctors which contraceptives are better choices for them.
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Asthma, Allergies, and the Health of Your Lungs
哮喘是美国最常见和最昂贵的健康状况之一。这是一种慢性（长期）肺部疾病，其中肺部的气道变窄并发炎。这种炎症会使支气管对环境触发敏感或过敏原，例如灰尘，烟雾，宠物皮屑或冷空气。这些触发器可以激发哮喘发作, which can lead to a medical emergency or even death.
据估计，美国有26,000,000人患有哮喘，每天有10人死亡。
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