Asthma is the most common respiratory disorder affecting pregnant women and poorly controlled asthma during pregnancy can pose a serious risk to both mother and baby, doctors have said.

Over 470,000 people in Ireland have asthma, including thousands of women of childbearing age. According to international estimates, between four and 12% of pregnant women at any given time have the disease.

Writing in The Irish Journal of Clinical Medicine: Modern Medicine, doctors based at the Institute for Breathing and Sleep in Victoria, Australia, explained that many women experience a change in their level of asthma control when pregnant, with one in three seeing an improvement in symptoms.

However while another one in three remain stable, one-third experience a worsening of symptoms.

"Studies have shown that 36% of pregnant women with asthma have a severe exacerbation requiring medical intervention and approximately 5.8% are hospitalised for asthma exacerbations," the doctors explained.

Asthma exacerbations are linked to a number of health concerns, including low birth weight babies. As a result, the appropriate care of pregnant women with asthma ‘is an important public health concern,' they insisted.

However, the doctors emphasised that if asthma is well controlled throughout the pregnancy, ‘there is little or no increased risk of adverse maternal or foetal complications'.

They noted that patients should be questioned regularly about their asthma symptoms and should be educated about the relationship between asthma and pregnancy. Recognised asthma triggers, such as dust and animal hair, should be avoided where possible.

The doctors pointed out that in general, asthma medications are safe to take during pregnancy and should be taken as normal. They should also be used during labour and delivery.

While asthma medication is excreted in small amounts into breast milk, breastfeeding can be undertaken and women are again advised to use their medication as normal.

The doctors concluded that while poorly controlled asthma and disease exacerbations have the potential to adversely affect mother and baby, ‘well controlled asthma does not pose any significant risk to the baby and pregnant women can be reassured regarding the safety of asthma medications in pregnancy'.

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For more information on pregnancy, see our Pregnancy Clinic here