Five days before World Asthma Day, a study found that non-allergic asthma patients, those with long-lasting disease or taking corticosteroids, were more likely to become obese than non-allergic adults. suffering from this respiratory pathology.
- World Asthma Day is May 3, 2022.
- Asthmatic volunteers with long-term disease had a 32% higher risk of obesity than those with short-term disease.
- Participants who took corticosteroids to treat this respiratory disease had a 99% higher risk of developing obesity than those who did not use this treatment.
“Obesity is a known risk factor for asthma. Although there is some evidence that asthma causes obesity in children, the link between asthma and obesity has not been studied in children. adults”, said an international group of scientists. This is why the researchers decided to carry out a study, whose the results were published in the journal Thoraxto examine the long-term effects of asthma on the development of obesity in adults.
For the purposes of their work, the team analyzed data from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS), a cohort conducted in 11 European countries and Australia between 1990 and 2014. Information from more than 12,500 people was collected in three waves and with follow-up visits at approximately 10-year intervals. Data was collected through questionnaires, lung function tests and measurements taken to determine participants’ body mass index and asthma characteristics. “We examined the impact of atopy and asthma medications on the development of obesity,” the authors said.
A higher risk of becoming obese in people with non-allergic asthma
According to the results, 9% of adults with asthma who participated in the first follow-up became obese and 15% of volunteers with asthma developed obesity during the second follow-up. According to the scientists, the risk of being affected by obesity was higher in asthmatics than in non-asthmatics and particularly higher in non-atopics, whose disease duration was longer and those taking corticosteroids.
“A potential explanation for asthma-associated weight gain could be reduced physical activity in asthmatic patients. However, our results do not support this hypothesis, since physical activity levels in our study did not did not affect the observed association”, said Judith Garcia-Aymerich, author of the study, in a statement.
