| Title: | Increased platelet counts are associated with female sex and asthma severity |
| Journal: | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Global |
| Published: | 22 Jul 2025 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40895413/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacig.2025.100541 |
Publication 17015
WARNING: the interactive features of this website use CSS3, which your browser does not support. To use the full features of this website, please update your browser.
Abstract
Background: Significant sex differences occur in asthma phenotypes across the lifespan. Platelet activation is associated with a steroid-refractory asthma phenotype.</p>
Objective: We sought to test the hypothesis that higher platelet counts in females are associated with increased prevalence and severity of asthma compared with males.</p>
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from participants' baseline visit in the UK Biobank. Binomial multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for age, body mass index, sex, race, smoking status, serum C-reactive protein, absolute eosinophil count, and absolute neutrophil count.</p>
Results: Of the 351,203 patients included in the analysis, 5.7% had asthma, 2% met the British Thoracic Society criteria for moderate to severe asthma, and 57.4% were female. Female sex was associated with higher platelet counts among participants with or without asthma (P < .001). Median platelet counts were higher by 30 × 103/μL in females with asthma when compared with males with asthma (median [interquartile range], 271.1 [235.0-312.0] vs 241.0 [209.0-279.4] × 103/μL, P < .001, respectively). Among participants with asthma, higher platelet counts were also associated with increased asthma severity (P < .001). Platelet counts correlated positively with the blood absolute eosinophil count (r = 0.104, P < .001), blood neutrophil count (r = 0.254, P < .001), and C-reactive protein (r = 0.183, P < .001).</p>
Conclusions: These findings suggest that platelet counts are associated with asthma and inflammation in both sexes and can serve as a potential biomarker for asthma severity with differential effects across the sexes. Future studies including mechanistic studies should characterize the interaction between sex hormones, platelet activation, and asthma severity.</p>
7 Authors
- Neha Solanki
- Battoul Fakhry
- Amy Attaway
- Benjamin Gaston
- Katherine N. Cahill
- Dawn C. Newcomb
- Joe G. Zein
1 Application
| Application ID | Title |
|---|---|
| 97690 | To study the effect of sex in lung diseases |
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health