Can't Breathe? Try Losing Some Weight
Asthma sufferers who are obese face more risks, study finds
 (HealthDay News) -- Being vastly overweight has been linked to numerous health risks, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. But add asthma to the equation and the risk list grows even longer.
Researchers from Kaiser Permanente, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have found that people who have asthma and are obese are much more likely to be hospitalized, have a lower quality of life and have worse control of the disease than those who have asthma but maintain a normal weight.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asthma affects the lungs, causing episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and nighttime or early morning coughing.
For their study, the researchers evaluated 1,113 adult members of the Kaiser health plan who had asthma. The participants, who were from Oregon, Washington and Colorado, were questioned about their weight, height, smoking habits, other illness, asthma treatment and their quality of life, as well as the control they had of the disease and any hospitalizations related to the condition. The experts also calculated the participants' body mass index (BMI) -- a height-to-weight measurement. Obesity was defined as having a BMI of 30 or more.
"Even accounting for all of those factors, there was a pretty dramatic difference for obese asthmatics versus non-obese asthmatics," Dr. Michael Schatz, chief of the department of allergy at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, told HealthDay. "The most severe was a nearly five times greater risk for being hospitalized for asthma in the prior year."
Other differences associated with obesity also were found. Obese people with asthma were 2.8 times more likely to have daily quality-of-life problems associated with asthma and 2.7 times more likely to have poor asthma control, too.
Though the connection seems clear, what causes the connection is not.
Schatz and his fellow researchers speculated that obese people might have a lower self-image and not adhere to measures to make their asthma better, may not be as adherent to medication, or other factors.
But despite not knowing why obesity can make life more difficult for asthmatics, Schatz said the study is clear about what people with asthma should do to improve their day-to-day life.
"In general, the best bet would be to be at a normal weight," he said.
The study adds to the base of knowledge about weight and asthma, said Dr. Christopher Cooper, a professor of medicine and physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. "This adds additional evidence there is some association between the two," he told HealthDay.
One limitation was the lack of an intervention, such as following obese asthmatics who lose weight to see if their condition improves, he said. But overall, the study relied on large numbers, Cooper said, and the statistics are sound.
On the Web
To learn more about asthma and what can trigger it, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCES:
HealthDay News ; Michael Schatz, M.D., chief, Department of Allergy, Kaiser Permanente, San Diego, and clinical professor of medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego; Christopher Cooper, M.D., professor, medicine and physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; September 2008, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov)
Author:
Dennis Thompson
Publication Date:
Sept. 30, 2009
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