New research shows that obese people who have asthma are nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized for the problem and to have lower quality of life and worse control of the disease than those with asthma who are normal weight.
Researchers from Kaiser Permanente, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School evaluated 1,113 adults with asthma, all members of Kaiser, in Oregon, Washington or Colorado, according to HealthDay News.
They asked the patients about their weight, height, smoking habits, other illness, asthma treatment and their quality life control and any hospitalizations related to the condition. They also computed their body-mass index (BMI).
The team reported its findings in the September issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found other differences associated with obesity.
Obese patients with asthma were 2.8 times more likely to have day-to-day problems with quality of life associated with their disease. They were 2.7 times more likely to have poor asthma control, too.
