QUB team finds link between asthma and stress

“Allostatic load” is the concept used to measure early ageing or “wear and tear” on the body which accumulates when an individual is exposed to chronic stress in everyday life.

To conduct their study, the researchers compared allostatic load in adults with and without asthma; 9219 adults without asthma, 198 adults with mild asthma which did not require anti-inflammatory treatment with inhaled corticosteroids and 388 adults also with moderate disease treated with inhaled corticosteroids in the UK. To do this, the research team used data which measured levels of stress-related biomarkers in the blood of each participant.

The team found higher allostatic load - early ageing - among even the mildest asthma grou.

They found a person with mild asthma had an allostatic load equivalent to a person without asthma who is eight years older.

They also found those with moderate asthma had a higher allostatic load than those without asthma, though this may be confounded by their corticosteroid use which can also affect measurements of allostatic load. This explains the importance of examining individuals with asthma who were not in receipt of a prescription for these medications.

Luke Barry, Research Fellow from the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast and first author on the research, said: “This study provides objective measures of a relationship between stress and asthma. Understanding this stress-disease link is important for the management of asthma and in potentially reducing its lifetime burden.