Children with asthma are at greater risk of developing heart failure, warns study for the first time

  • Young asthma sufferers were found to have thicker left ventricles in the heart
  • This can cause the heart muscle to lose elasticity and eventually fail to pump 
  • An enlarged left side of the heart quadruples the risk of a heart attack
  • Rising rates of asthma have been linked to increases in air pollution globally

By Claudia Tanner and Daisy Dunne For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Young adults with a history of asthma are at a greater risk of developing heart failure, research shows.

The common respiratory disease was found to lead to a thickening of the left ventricle, which can cause the heart muscle to lose elasticity and eventually fail to pump. 

It is the first study to link asthma from childhood with the cardiac condition, known as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH),  in adulthood. 

Rates of asthma – caused by inflammation of the air passages – have been growing during the past decade, affecting over 8 percent of children and 7 percent of adults.

An increases in air pollution is often blamed, but part of the reason could be better diagnostic methods now in use.  

Teenagers with asthma are more likely to have heart problems later in life, new research finds

Teenagers with asthma are more likely to have heart problems later in life, new research finds

Key findings

The research, published in JACC: Heart Failure, examined 1,118 patients who answered a questionnaire on their asthma history.

After a 10 year follow-up, those with asthma had a higher left ventricular mass compared to those without.

The link was stronger in patients with high and raised blood pressure, the researchers discovered.

The right and left sides of your heart do different jobs. 

Because the left side of the heart has to work harder to get blood round the body, it is usually this side that becomes enlarged when your blood pressure is too high or you have a health condition that causes the heart to work harder than normal.

LVH can cause shortness of breath, chest pain and fainting. 

Thickening of the heart's left ventricle (tissue in the bottom right-hand corner of the organ) can cause shortness of breath, chest pain, fainting, and may eventually lead to heart failure

Thickening of the heart's left ventricle (tissue in the bottom right-hand corner of the organ) can cause shortness of breath, chest pain, fainting, and may eventually lead to heart failure

ASTHMA LINKED TO MOTHER'S POLLUTION AND STRESS LEVELS

Women who are exposed to polluted air and stressful situations during their pregnancy are more likely to have children with asthma, a study published this month found.

Boys whose mothers were exposed to both of the risk factors were more likely to develop the condition by age six.

The study by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai looked at more than 700 women who were primarily African-American and Latina, and were pregnant and living in urban settings. 

Researchers said there was already a known link between the race of the mother and the likelihood of being exposed to air pollution.

Now the experts say these factors contribute to the respiratory health disparities that ethnically mixed urban populations commonly have.

A previous study by experts at the University of California, Berkeley, found a correlation between children and teenagers exposed to high levels of traffic pollution and premature ageing and asthma.

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An enlarged heart can be treated and, for some people, it is possible to reduce the enlarged area over time. 

People with high blood pressure and an enlarged left side of the heart have four times the risk of a heart attack than someone with the same blood pressure but a normal-sized heart, according to Blood Pressure UK.

Similarly, people with thickened left heart muscles have 12 times the risk of a stroke, and are more likely to have irregular heartbeats.

What the experts say 

'Our findings suggest aggressive lifestyle modifications or even pharmacological treatment may be applied to people with a history of asthma, especially those also affected by high blood pressure, in order to lower cardiovascular risk,' said study author Lu Qi, director of the Tulane University Obesity Research Center.

However, a limitation of the study was that no baseline echocardiograms were available.

In a comment accompanying the study, John Gottdiener, adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, wrote that the findings therefore leave several unanswered questions, 

'We look forward to further studies which will accurately determine the association of asthma with death, heart failure, myocardial infarction and stroke,' he said.

'Of particular value will be learning how severe and long the asthmatic exposure needs to be to pose significant risk. 

'This will help to intelligently design effective prevention interventions validated by randomized controlled trials.'

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