Nearly one million incidents of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, occur every year in the United States. Roughly one-third of all adults are affected by the age of 80 with the most occurrences happening between 50 and 59 years of age. Although this disease is common, there is still so much unknown about its presentation. It is unclear why some individuals will experience this and others will never be affected by symptoms. A recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has linked asthma to an increased risk of developing this condition.
Medical records were reviewed in Olmsted County, Minnesota and 371 cases of shingles were compared against 742 control subjects. Of the cases of shingles, 23 percent also had asthma, where as only 15 percent were found to have asthma in the control group. It was determined that adults who had asthma were 70 percent more likely to develop shingles, when compared to those without asthma. Another finding was that atopic dermatitis also was associated with a higher risk of developing shingles when compared to controls.
It is unclear what the underlying mechanism of this relationship is, but it is suspected to be linked to an individual’s immunity status. Patients with asthma and atopic dermatitis are considered to have impaired innate immunity when compared to controls. Researchers suspect that due to an impaired immunity and immune response, the varicella virus is more likely to be reactivated in patients with these conditions.
Hyo Jin Kwon, Duk Won Bang, Eun Na Kim, Chung-Il Wi, Barbara P. Yawn, Peter C. Wollan, Brian D. Lahr, Euijung Ryu, Young J. Juhn. Asthma as a risk factor for zoster in adults: A population-based case-control study. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2015; DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.10.032
