• Jae-Woo Kwon, Sae-Hoon Kim, Tae-Bum Kim, Sang-Heon Kim, Heung-Woo Park, Yoon-Seok Chang, An-Soo Jang, You Sook Cho, Dong-Ho Nahm, Jung-Won Park, Ho Joo Yoon, Young-Joo Cho, Byoung Whui Choi, Hee-Bom Moon, and Sang-Heon Cho.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. 2012 Jan 1;159(2):187-93.

BackgroundObesity is a risk factor for asthma in the general population, but the effect of obesity on airway hyperresponsiveness (AFHR) or airway inflammation in asthma is not clear. This study evaluated the relationship between obesity and asthma, assessing aspects of symptoms, AHR, and severity.MethodsIn total, 852 patients with asthma diagnosed by asthma specialists based on AHR as confirmed by a methacholine bronchial provocation test, were enrolled from the Cohort for Reality and Evolution of Adult Asthma in Korea (COREA) adult asthma cohort. The intensity of AHR was assessed by the concentration of methacholine needed to cause a 20% decrease in FEV(1) (PC(20)). Patients were classified into four categories based on body mass index (BMI): underweight (<18.5), normal weight (18.5-24.9), overweight (25.0-29.9), and obese (≥30).ResultsBMI was negatively correlated with FEV(1) (l), FVC (l), and FEV(1)/FVC (%) in lung function tests. The prevalence of wheezing increased with higher BMI after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, medication history, and PC(20) (p < 0.0001). logPC(20) was lower in the normal weight group compared with the overweight group (p = 0.003). The risk of moderate or severe AHR (PC(20) ≤ 4 mg/ml) decreased with increased BMI after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, and medication history (p = 0.035).ConclusionsObesity is a risk factor for asthma in the general population, but obesity in asthmatic patients is negatively correlated with the intensity of AHR and is not related to asthma severity. Obesity is positively related with the prevalence of wheezing but negatively related to AHR in asthmatic patients.Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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