Bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis is associated with asthma: A case‐control study

Objective Although asthma and bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) are considered to share similar pathophysiological pathways, the relationship between asthma and BPS/IC is uncertain. This case‐control study aimed to investigate the relationship between prior asthma and BPS/IC using a large database in Taiwan. Materials and methods This study used data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. We identified 500 female patients with BPS/IC as cases and 500 propensity score‐matched females without BPS/IC as controls. We conducted logistic regressions to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for prior asthma between cases and controls. Results Results indicated that 143 (14.30%) of the total sampled patients had received a prior diagnosis of asthma. Moreover, prior asthma was found in 86 (17.20%) cases and 57 (11.40%) controls. The OR of prior asthma for cases was 1.61 (95%CI: 1.13‐2.32) compared to propensity score‐matched controls. Additionally, the ORs of prior asthma for females with BPS/IC aged 18‐59 and ≥60 years were 1.72 (95%CI: 1.11‐2.69) and 1.40 (95%CI: 0.74‐2.62), respectively, compared to controls. Conclusions We concluded that prior asthma was significantly associated with BPS/IC in a female Taiwanese population.