TOPLINE:

A significant association was found between asthma and type 2 diabetes (T2D), even after adjusting for body mass index (BMI).

Additionally, individuals with a sibling affected by one condition had an increased likelihood of having the other condition, indicating shared genetic and environmental factors.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a register-based cross-sectional study between 2009 and 2013 to examine the association between T2D and asthma in Swedish adults and the familial co-aggregation of these conditions.
• A total of 5,229,245 participants aged 25-85 years (50.7% women) were included, of whom 334,680 had only asthma, 241,656 had only T2D, and 25,292 had both conditions; data on physician-diagnosed asthma and T2D were extracted from the National Patient Register and the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register.
• The analysis included adjustments for sex, age, education level, income, and country of birth, with additional adjustment for body mass index (BMI) in a subset of participants. BMI data were obtained from the Swedish Conscription Register for men and the Medical Birth Register for women.
• Familial co-aggregation was assessed by analysing sibling pairs, including 750,153 brothers and 822,241 sisters from the same father and mother as affected individuals, to explore shared genetic and environmental factors.

 

TAKEAWAY:

• In the total population, individuals with T2D had a 47% increased likelihood of having asthma (odds ratio [OR], 1.47; 95% CI, 1.45-1.49).
• The association was slightly more prominent in men (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.45-1.56) and women (OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.96-2.11) with available BMI measurements.
• In the BMI-adjusted analysis of a subset of participants, the association remained significant but was attenuated for both men (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.40-1.51) and women (OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.68-1.84).
• Siblings of individuals with asthma had higher odds of developing T2D (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.10-1.15) than siblings of individuals without asthma, indicating shared genetic and environmental risk factors.

IN PRACTICE:

”The family history of either disorder should indicate ascertainment of the other, and future studies should further investigate genetic variants underlying the co-occurrence,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Mwenya Mubanga, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and was published online on March 23, 2025, in Thorax.

LIMITATIONS:

The study design could not account for childhood asthma as prescription data were available only from 2005. Additionally, the researchers could not identify individuals who had not been prescribed medication or diagnosed during hospitalisation. The study did not account for other potential confounding conditions, including autoimmune diseases, which may co-aggregate with asthma and T2D. Additionally, the possibility of surveillance bias due to more frequent healthcare contacts in patients with chronic illnesses could not be ruled out.

DISCLOSURES:

The study received financial support from the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, Region Stockholm, and Stiftelsen Frimurare Barnhuset i Stockholm.

The authors declared no competing interests.

 

 

From www.medscapoe.com

 

 

 

 

Läs mer om studien

https://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2025/03/22/thorax-2024-222819?rss=1

 

Respiratory epidemiology

Original research

Association between asthma and type 2 diabetes in a Swedish adult population: a register-based cross-sectional study

1. Mwenya Mubanga1,2,
2. Tong Gong1,
3. Awad I Smew1,
4. Amanda Wikström1,
5. Emma Caffrey Osvald1,3,
6. Katarina Eeg-Olofsson4,5,
7. Christer Janson6,
8. Cecilia Lundholm1,
9. Catarina Almqvist1,3

 

 

Abstract

• Objective

Asthma and type 2 diabetes are two important causes of morbidity globally. We examined both the association of type 2 diabetes with asthma in Swedish adults and the familial co-aggregation of the diseases.

 

• Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of all adults aged 25–85 in Sweden between 2009 and 2013. Asthma and type 2 diabetes status were ascertained from the health registers. Models were adjusted for sex, age, education level, income and country of birth and in a subset, for body mass index (BMI). We further conducted a familial coaggregation analysis to determine if shared familial factors could explain any observed findings.

 

• Results

The study included 5 299 245 participants, 25 292 (0.5%) had both asthma and type 2 diabetes. In the total population, the OR for the association between type 2 diabetes and asthma was 1.47 (95% CI 1.45 to 1.49); in the population of men (1.30 (95% CI 1.27 to 1.32)) and women (1.63 (95% CI 1.60 to 1.66)). The ORs were slightly higher among men (1.51 (95% CI 1.45 to 1.56)) and women (2.04 (95% CI 1.96 to 2.11)) for whom BMI measurements were available but attenuated with adjustment for BMI (1.45 (95% CI 1.40 to 1.51)) and (1.76 (95% CI 1.68 to 1.84)). Diabetes was more likely if a full sibling had asthma than if the sibling did not (1.13 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.15)).

 

• Conclusions

We found an association between asthma and type 2 diabetes that was sustained after adjusting for BMI, indicating that BMI alone does not explain this relationship. We also found that the two conditions coaggregate in siblings, indicating that the association is partly due to shared familial genetic and environmental risk factors.

 

 

 

 

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