Risk of asthma in heterozygous carriers for cystic fibrosis: A meta-analysis.
Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have a higher prevalence of asthma than the background population, however, it is unclear whether heterozygous CF carriers are susceptible to asthma. Given this, a meta-analysis is necessary to determine the veracity of the association of CF heterozygosity with asthma.



We screened the medical literature from 1966 to 2015 and performed a meta-analysis to determine the risk of asthma in CF heterozygotes vs. non-carriers.



Aggregating data from 15 studies, the odds ratio for asthma in CF heterozygotes compared with non-carriers was significantly elevated at 1.61 (95% CI: 1.18-2.21). When analyzing the studies considered of high quality in which asthma was diagnosed by a physician, the patients were >18years, or study size was ≥500, the trend remained the same, that heterozygous carriers of CF had elevated risk for asthma.



The results show that heterozygous carriers for CF have a higher risk of asthma than non-carriers.
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Zealand University Hospital, Køge, Denmark.
Anne Orholm
AO
Nielsen
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Zealand University Hospital, Køge, Denmark.
Sadaf
S
Qayum
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Zealand University Hospital, Køge, Denmark.
Pierre Nourdine
PN
Bouchelouche
Department of Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark.
Lars Christian
LC
Laursen
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Odense University Hospital, Denmark.
Ronald
R
Dahl
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Zealand University Hospital, Køge, Denmark. Electronic address: modah@regionsjaelland.dk.
Morten
M
Dahl
D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D019005:Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator / Q000235:genetics; D006580:Genetic Carrier Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors
D019005:Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator
Airway obstruction; Asthma; Cystic fibrosis; Epidemiology; Review