How does pregnancy affect a woman’s asthma? Why would a woman’s asthma be worse during pregnancy?
A. Like pregnancy itself, asthma varies enormously from woman to woman. Around one third of women find their asthma symptoms improve in pregnancy, one third stay the same and one third find their asthma gets worse. Some women, particularly those carrying a baby high up under the rib cage, report a feeling of finding it more difficult to breathe. Some women who continued to work right into the late stages of their pregnancy reported feelings of stress, which can be a trigger for asthma symptoms. Asthma treatment guidelines emphasise the importance of women with asthma continuing to take their inhaled steroids throughout their pregnancies. Inhaled steroids go straight down to the airways where they are needed, so very little is absorbed into the bloodstream. This means the medicine is highly unlikely to reach the baby. If high doses of inhaled steroids are used, it is sensible to use a spacer device to reduce the risk of absorption. Research shows that smoking during pregnancy leads to a
