Women exposed to domestic abuse more likely to suffer from asthma, reveals study.

A study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice has revealed that women exposed to domestic abuse may be at a higher risk of developing atopic diseases, including asthma. The research found that there was a significantly larger percentage of women who had atopic diseases and a history of being exposed to domestic abuse and violence. The study was led by Dr. Joht Singh Chandan from the University of Birmingham, UK, who stated that “Our results show women with a recorded exposure to domestic violence and abuse had a 52 per cent increased risk of developing atopic diseases”.

The study looked at adult women with a physician-recorded exposure to domestic violence and compared them to women without a recorded exposure, excluding patients with pre-existing reports of atopic disease. A total of 13,852 women were identified as being exposed to domestic violence and were matched to 49,036 similar women without a reported exposure.

The researchers acknowledged limitations to the study such as women in the exposed group being more likely to be current smokers than women in the unexposed group. Dr. Chandan also noted that the study’s findings “further developed to address not only domestic violence, but secondary effects like the development of atopic diseases.”