People with heart disease may have symptoms of chest pain and shortness of breath, among others. And that's where the confusion can occur, particularly for the mature adult.

However, there can be a direct connection between heart disease and asthma. The American Heart Association, at its convention in Texas in November 2009, found that asthma increases the risk of heart disease. Carlos Iribarren, MD, MPH, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente, in his study found that non- smoking patients who have asthma have a greater risk, 33%, of developing heart disease than non-smoking patients who don't have asthma. So having asthma definitely complicates the picture. Therefore emphasis has been made on managing cardiovascular risk factors such as blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar in the patients who present to doctors with asthma. The new study reveals that the connection and the risks appear to be there even for nonsmokers.

It also appears that women are more at risk than men. Dr. Stephen Onufrak, along with his colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Stoneville, Mississippi, has drawn upon the report of a study, published in the America Journal of Cardiology (titled Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities), which found that women who develop asthma in adulthood are more than twice as likely to develop heart disease or have strokes than women without asthma, whereas there appears to be no correlation between asthma and heart disease or strokes, in men.

Although the findings are important and may have implications for medical treatments, Dr. Onufrak has said that they need to be replicated in another independent study before any "concrete recommendations" can be made.

Bottom line.conditions other than asthma or heart disease can also show themselves with shortness of breath or wheezing. That's one of the most important reasons to see a doctor and let the doctor help figure out exactly what the main problems are.

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