Women who develop asthma in adulthood may be at increased risk of having heart disease and stroke, according to research published in the May American Journal of Cardiology.

Investigators examined data from more than 14,000 men and women who reported whether they had adult-onset asthma, and the researchers followed the participants for at least 10 years to see if they developed heart disease or stroke.

Women with adult-onset asthma were roughly twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease or stroke. However, the researchers didn't find a significant link between asthma and these problems in men or in women who developed asthma in childhood.

The authors weren't sure about why these problems may be linked. It's possible that the chronic inflammation found in asthma may promote atherosclerosis, which is the buildup of plaque in arteries. On the other hand, inflammatory substances in the body could create both asthma and atherosclerosis, they wrote. It's also possible that some other factors they didn't take into account could explain why these conditions appear to be linked.

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