A Small Amount of Weight Gain Adds Up to a Big Risk for Patients With Uncontrolled Asthma

Medscape article - Small Amount of Weight Gain Adds Up to Big Risk for Patients With Uncontrolled Asthma

Extract:

"November 15, 2007 (Dallas) — Gaining just 5 pounds during 1 year resulted in an exacerbation of asthma, particularly in those with poorly controlled asthma, researchers reported here at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) 65th Annual Meeting.

Female and black patients who have asthma were at elevated risk of controlling asthma in the study, reported Bradley Chipps, MD, allergist, Capital Allergy and Respiratory Disease Center, Sacramento, California, during his presentation.

A total of 2396 adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with baseline and 12-month follow-up visits from The Epidemiology and Natural history of asthma: Outcomes and treatment Regimens (TENOR) 3-year observational study were categorized into weight loss, stable weight, and weight gain using a 5-pound or more difference from baseline to determine whether 1-year weight changes predicted the following asthma-related health outcomes: asthma control (as measured by the Asthma Therapy Assessment Questionnaire), asthma-related quality of life (Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire), steroid bursts in the previous 3 months, and exacerbations (overnight hospital stay or emergency department visit during the previous 3 months).

The study found that patients who gained weight were 22% more likely to have poorly controlled asthma after 1 year (odds ratio [OR], 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 - 1.49) compared with patients who had stable weight during this period, after adjusting for demographics, body mass index (BMI) at baseline, duration of asthma, asthma severity, specialty of the treating physician, total immunoglobulin E, skin test result, lung function, and oral steroid use.

"The results of the study suggest that the problems of uncontrolled asthma will continue into adulthood and reconfirm that obesity should be considered a risk factor for asthma," Dr. Chipps told Medscape Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

Other independent risk characteristics were a higher BMI at baseline, older age, and being female."

Since steroids are often used in the treatment of asthma, and since steroids frequently cause sodium retention/salt sensitivity leading to fluid retention/weight gain/obesity, it would be advisable for people with asthma to be informed that reducing intake of salt/sodium reduces the fluid retention and therefore reduces or prevents this sort of weight gain.

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