asthma

Study: Obesity Raises Asthma Risk, But Asthma Raises Obesity Risk, Too

People with obesity have long been known to be at higher risk of developing asthma. But new research results demonstrate the asthma-obesity connection works both ways, and that people with asthma are at higher risk of developing obesity.

The research findings,1 presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Paris, France on September 16, indicate that persons who develop asthma as adults and persons who have nonallergic asthma are at highest risk of obesity.

The research was part of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey and included 8618 people from 12 countries who were not obese (ie, had a body mass index [BMI] <30 kg/m2) at the study outset. The study began recruiting in the 1990s, and participants were followed up after 10 years and again after 20 years. They found that 10.2% of participants with asthma at the start of the study had become obese 10 years later, and that 7.7% of participants without asthma had become obese 10 years later. The increase in the risk of obesity was even higher in participants whose asthma began in adulthood and was also higher in participants who had asthma but not allergies.

The researchers said that these findings suggest that the relationship between asthma and obesity is more complex than previously had been thought, and that more research is needed to better understand and manage these growing health challenges.2

—Michael Gerchufsky

References:

  1. Moitra S, et al. Effect of asthma on the development of obesity among adults: results of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). Presented at: European Respiratory Society International Congress; September 16, 2018; Paris, France. Abstract OA297.
  2. People with asthma at higher risk of becoming obese [press release]. Paris, France: European Respiratory Society; September 15, 2018. https://erscongress.org/about-ers-2018/media-centre/press-releases/143-press-releases/610-asthma-obesity.html.