News Release

Common cold no more frequent in people with asthma - but symptoms are more severe

Peer-Reviewed Publication

The Lancet_DELETED

N.B. Please note that if you are outside North America the embargo date for Lancet press material is 0001hours UK time Friday 8th March 2002.

People with asthma are not at an increased risk of having a common cold, but are more likely to develop more severe respiratory symptoms if infected with the cold virus, conclude authors of a UK study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

Rhinoviruses are the most frequent cause of the common cold. It has long been thought that people with asthma are more susceptible to colds than people without the disease. Jonathan Corne from Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK, and colleagues did a study to investigate whether people with asthma are more susceptible to rhinoviruses, and to compare the effects of rhinovirus infection between people with or without asthma.

76 cohabiting couples were recruited to the study. One person in every couple had atopic asthma and the other did not. Participants completed daily diary cards of upper-respiratory-tract (URT) and lower-respiratory-tract (LRT) symptoms. They also measured their peak expiratory flow from the lungs twice daily. Nasal secretions were examined for rhinovirus every two weeks.

753 nasal samples were assessed. Rhinovirus was detected in around 10% (38/378) of samples from participants with asthma and 8.5% (32/375) of samples from healthy participants. However, after adjustment for confounding factors, asthma did not significantly increase the risk of infection. Rhinovirus infection was associated more frequently with LRT infection in participants with asthma than in healthy individuals (12 of 28 infections compared with four of 23). Symptoms of LRT associated with rhinovirus infection were substantially more severe and longer-lasting in participants with asthma than in healthy participants. The two groups did not differ in frequency, severity, or duration of URT infections or symptoms associated with rhinovirus infection.

Jonathan Corne comments: “Rhinovirus infection is one of the commonest causes of asthma attacks, and there must be a reason why the infection has such severe effects in people with asthma. Understanding the different effects of rhinovirus infection in people with and without asthma will help us understand the mechanisms of an asthma attack, and should result in the development of more targeted treatment.” (quote by e-mail; does not appear in published paper).

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Contact: Dr Jonathan M Corne, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Level D South Block, University Hospital, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK; T/F) +44 (0)1623 627711; E) Jonathan.Corne@mail.qmcuh-tr.trent.nhs.uk


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