September 4, 2008
Obese Patients Nearly Five Times More Likely to be Hospitalized for Asthma, Kaiser Permanente Study Finds
First Study to Control for Risk Factors of Smoking, Medication, Gastroesophageal Reflux and Demographics
(Portland, Ore.) – Obese people with asthma are nearly five times more likely
than non-obese asthma sufferers to be hospitalized for the condition, according
to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the September
issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
This is the first study to control for other risk
factors – smoking, use of oral or inhaled corticosteroid medications, gastroesophageal
reflux disorder, and demographics – that might explain the obesity-asthma association.
Previous studies have shown that obese people are more likely to suffer asthma than
non-obese people, and that obese patients often have more severe asthma than their
non-obese counterparts.
More than 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with
asthma. Over one third of adults with asthma are also obese, according to the researchers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines obesity as having a Body
Mass Index of 30 or higher (http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/defining.htm)
Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., and
the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Research in Denver surveyed 1,113 patients
in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado, age 35 and older, who have persistent asthma.
The researchers asked the patients about their weight, height, smoking habits, other
illnesses,
treatment and their asthma-specific quality of life, asthma control and
asthma-related hospitalizations.
“The big finding here is that even after adjusting
for risk factors, obese adults were nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized
for their asthma,” said study lead author David M. Mosen, Ph.D., MPH, of the Kaiser
Permanente Center for Health Research. “Given that nearly 30 percent of our country
is obese, this study is yet another example of the long-term dangers of obesity,
along with heart disease, diabetes, stroke and dementia.”
The study uncovered these
findings:
- Obese people with asthma had significantly worse asthma control, lower asthma-related quality of life, and had 4.6 times higher risk for asthma-related
hospitalizations than non-obese asthmatics
- Obese people with asthma were younger
and less educated than non-obese people with asthma
- Obese people with asthma used
more oral corticosteroids
- Obese people with asthma had a higher incidence of gastroesophageal
reflux disorder.
“The take-home message of this study for clinicians is that obese
people with asthma need to be followed more carefully because it’s harder to control
their asthma, so they are more likely to end up in the hospital,” said
study co-author
Dr. Michael Schatz, Chief of Allergy at Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center.
“My advice for obese asthmatics is: be vigilant to keep your asthma symptoms in
check, make sure you know what to do when your symptoms worsen, and do whatever
you can to lose weight.”
Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the study was authored by David M. Mosen, Ph.D., MPH of the Kaiser Permanente Center
for Health Research; Michael Schatz, MD, MS, of Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical
Center; David J. Magid, MD, of the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Research
in Denver; and Carlos A. Camargo, Jr, MD, DrPH, of the Department of Emergency
Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research, founded in 1964, is a non-profit
research institution whose mission is advancing knowledge to improve health. It
has research sites in Portland OR; Honolulu, HI; and Atlanta, GA.
www.kpchr.org
Kaiser Permanente is America’s leading integrated health care organization.
Founded in 1945, the organization serves the health needs of more than 8.7 million
people nationwide. Nearly 480,000 people in Oregon and Southwest Washington receive
their health care from Kaiser Permanente.
www.kaiserpermanente.org
For more infomation contact:
Mary Sawyers,
(503) 335-6602