Chest
ORIGINAL RESEARCHASTHMAA Comparison of Obese and Nonobese People With Asthma: Exploring an Asthma-Obesity Interaction
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
This is a secondary analysis of a larger study conducted to determine the proportion of Canadian adults who are obese and of normal weight with an incorrect diagnosis of asthma.8 Subjects at least 16 years old who identified themselves as having current, physician-diagnosed asthma were randomly sampled from eight cities across Canada by random-digit dialing. Subjects were included in the study if they were of normal weight (BMI 18–25) or if they were obese (BMI ≥ 30); details of the study
Results
A total of 540 subjects who identified themselves as having physician-diagnosed asthma (266 who were obese and 274 of normal weight) met the eligibility criteria and agreed to participate in the study. Of the 540 participants in the study, 496 (242 who were obese and 254 of normal weight) completed all of the study assessments and could be conclusively evaluated for a diagnosis of asthma. More than 94% of the subjects were of white race. After undergoing rigorous testing to establish the
Discussion
In this study we found that there are differences in randomly selected subjects who were obese and of normal weight who had asthma proven by a diagnostic algorithm. Subjects who had asthma and were obese received a diagnosis at an older age than those who had asthma and were of normal weight. Respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea and wheeze in the past 12 months were more prevalent in patients with asthma who were obese compared with those of normal weight. However, self-reported urgent
Acknowledgments
Author contributions: Dr Pakhale had access to the data and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Dr Pakhale: contributed to the design, implementation, statistical analysis, interpretation, and writing.
Mr Doucette: contributed to the statistical analysis and interpretation.
Ms Vandemheen: contributed to data management, design, implementation, and writing.
Dr Boulet: contributed to the interpretation and writing.
Dr McIvor: contributed to the
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Cited by (0)
Funding: This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [Grant MOP-77520] and the Division of Respiratory Medicine, the Ottawa Hospital.
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