Reviews and feature articleThe relationship between obesity and asthma severity and control in adults
Section snippets
Study subjects
Study participants were members of the Colorado and Northwest regions of Kaiser Permanente, a large managed care organization centered in Denver, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon, respectively. Health plan members were eligible for the study if they were at least 35 years of age and had, in the 2-year period preceding the survey, at least 1 documented asthma-related medical encounter and at least a 6-month supply of asthma medication dispensed. These criteria were used to identify a population
Sample characteristics
As shown in Table I, study participants were well educated (nearly 50% with a college degree or higher), primarily of white race/ethnicity (86%), and equally split between men and women. In addition, nearly 40% were obese, approximately half were current or former smokers, and nearly 40% reported a history of GERD. The mean age of the cohort was 56.8 years, and 73% were younger than 65 years.
Approximately 14% of the cohort reported any use of oral corticosteroids in the past month, whereas 60%
Discussion
This study found that obese individuals with persistent asthma were significantly more likely than those with normal BMIs to report worse asthma-related quality of life, worse asthma control, and more asthma-related hospitalizations. We also found that being overweight (BMI, 25.0-30 kg/m2) was not associated with adverse study outcomes. The results suggest that being overweight might not be associated with more severe or difficult-to-control asthma. Our finding regarding obesity status and
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Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: M. Schatz has consulting arrangements with GlaxoSmithKline and has received research support from GlaxoSmithKline and Merck. C. A. Camargo has consulting arrangements with AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Critical Therapeutics; is on the advisory board for Dey, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, and Schering-Plough; is on the speakers' bureau for AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck; and has received research support from the National Institutes of Health, Research Foundations, AstraZeneca, Critical Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, and Respironics. The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.