Obese people may carry asthma trait

A new research from Quebec, Canada suggests that people who are obese with asthma may carry a specific trait that causes them to have poorer asthma control than their slim counterparts.

In the study, researchers  compared pulmonary function changes, methacholine challenge scores, sputum induction cell counts, symptom perceptions, BMI/waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio of 44 obese subjects with asthma with 44 non-obese subjects with asthma.

Compared with those who were not obese, those who were obese had poorer asthma control, as well as lower total lung capacity, expiratory reserve volume, functional residual capacity, and residual volume.

Bronchial and systemic inflammatory characteristics and patterns of pulmonary function changes suggest that obese patients may have a different phenotype of asthma.

The study has been published in the August issue of the journal CHEST.