Obese people are at a higher risk of developing persistent or severe persistent asthma than their thinner counterparts, as per a study presented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference.

During a study involved 3,059 adults with asthma, it was noted that obese patients (BMI=30) were more likely to report having continuous symptoms, miss more days of work, make more ER visits, and make more use of inhaled steroids for asthma control.

From News-Medical.Net:

The studies that have been done have been small, but this study took data from the National Asthma Survey, which includes 5,741 asthmatics, Dr. Taylor notes. “We had enough data to adjust for other factors, such as gender, race, income and employment status, and ensure that these factors were not playing a role in the results. Even after taking these variables into account, the association between obesity and asthma severity still held.”

Dr. Taylor notes that this study, like many previous studies, shows the link between asthma and obesity is more prominent in women. “A big part of that is simply that 70% of the study subjects were women,” he says. “We did find a statistically significant association between obesity and asthma severity in men, too.”

While it’s not known for sure how asthma and obesity are linked, Dr. Taylor notes that one potential mechanism seems to be an association between the hormone leptin, which is produced by fat cells and plays a role in body weight regulation, and inflammation of airways seen in asthma. Obesity also may impact the lungs in other ways to increase the risk of asthma.

Lead researcher Brian Taylor, M.D., of Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, said that there has been little data on obesity and asthma severity in the past despite a number of studies on obesity and asthma prevalence.

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