help button home button
AJRCCM
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Published ahead of print on January 7, 2004, doi:10.1164/rccm.200304-596OC
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Online Supplement
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
200304-596OCv1
169/7/836    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Barr, R. G.
Right arrow Articles by Camargo, C. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Barr, R. G.
Right arrow Articles by Camargo, C. A., Jr.
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Vol 169. pp. 836-841, (2004)
© 2004 American Thoracic Society

Original Article

Prospective Study of Acetaminophen Use and Newly Diagnosed Asthma among Women

R. Graham Barr, Catherine C. Wentowski, Gary C. Curhan, Samuel C. Somers, Meir J. Stampfer, Joel Schwartz, Frank E. Speizer and Carlos A. Camargo, Jr.

Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Division of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York; Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital; Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Departments of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to R. Graham Barr, M.D., Dr.P.H., Division of General Medicine, PH-9E 105 Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, 622 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032. E-mail: rgb9{at}columbia.edu

Acetaminophen decreases glutathione levels in the lung, which may predispose to oxidative injury and bronchospasm. Acetaminophen use has been associated with asthma in cross-sectional studies and a birth cohort. We hypothesized that acetaminophen use would be associated with newly diagnosed adult-onset asthma in the Nurses' Health Study, a prospective cohort study of 121,700 women. Participants were first asked about frequency of acetaminophen use in 1990. Cases with asthma were defined as those with a new physician diagnosis of asthma between 1990 and 1996 plus reiteration of the diagnosis and controller medication use. Proportional hazard models included age, race, socioeconomic status, body mass index, smoking, other analgesic use, and postmenopausal hormone use. During 352,719 person-years of follow-up, 346 participants reported a new physician diagnosis of asthma meeting diagnostic criteria. Increasing frequency of acetaminophen use was positively associated with newly diagnosed asthma (p for trend = 0.006). The multivariate rate ratio for asthma for participants who received acetaminophen for more than 14 days per month was 1.63 (95% confidence interval, 1.11–2.39) compared with nonusers. It would be premature to recommend acetaminophen avoidance for patients with asthma, but further research on pulmonary responses to acetaminophen is necessary to confirm or refute these findings and to identify subgroups whose asthma may be modified by acetaminophen.

Key Words: analgesics • paracetamol • aspirin • analgesic drugs, nonsteriodal




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ThoraxHome page
A. A Clayton, D. L Forrester, and A. J Knox
Aspirin and asthma: barking up the right tree?
Thorax, June 1, 2008; 63(6): 485 - 486.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Int J EpidemiolHome page
C. Rebordosa, M. Kogevinas, H. T Sorensen, and J. Olsen
Pre-natal exposure to paracetamol and risk of wheezing and asthma in children: A birth cohort study
Int. J. Epidemiol., June 1, 2008; 37(3): 583 - 590.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ThoraxHome page
T Kurth, R G Barr, J M Gaziano, and J E Buring
Randomised aspirin assignment and risk of adult-onset asthma in the Women's Health Study
Thorax, June 1, 2008; 63(6): 514 - 518.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.Home page
R. G. Barr, T. Kurth, M. J. Stampfer, J. E. Buring, C. H. Hennekens, and J. M. Gaziano
Aspirin and Decreased Adult-Onset Asthma: Randomized Comparisons from the Physicians' Health Study
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., January 15, 2007; 175(2): 120 - 125.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.Home page
T. M. McKeever, S. A. Lewis, H. A. Smit, P. Burney, J. R. Britton, and P. A. Cassano
The Association of Acetaminophen, Aspirin, and Ibuprofen with Respiratory Disease and Lung Function
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., May 1, 2005; 171(9): 966 - 971.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.Home page
L. Fabbri, S. P. Peters, I. Pavord, S. E. Wenzel, S. C. Lazarus, W. MacNee, F. Lemaire, and E. Abraham
Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma, Airway Biology, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in AJRCCM in 2004
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., April 1, 2005; 171(7): 686 - 698.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ChestHome page
I. Eneli, K. Sadri, C. Camargo Jr, and R. G. Barr
Acetaminophen and the Risk of Asthma: The Epidemiologic and Pathophysiologic Evidence
Chest, February 1, 2005; 127(2): 604 - 612.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Proc. Am. Thorac. Soc. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol.
Copyright © 2004 American Thoracic Society 		  Solid Organ Transplant for the Intensivist 2008