Asthma linked with obesity in adults
Document Actions
Although the prevalence of asthma and obesity is increasing concomitantly, many aspects of this link are still unclear. Fat tissue expansion is causally related to systemic inflammation, abnormal adipokines secretion and lipotoxicity. This prospective cohort study aimed to examine whether obesity was associated with asthma at three ranges of life (ages 3-18 years, 9-24 years and 24-39 years), and whether serum leptin and adiponectin concentrations, two fatty tissue-derived biomarkers whose levels are modulated by body fat stores, were linked to overweight-associated asthma. At all ages, allergy and parental asthma were significantly associated with asthma. At ages 24-39 years, but not earlier, BMI and female gender were independently associated with asthma, whilst increase in BMI was associated with incident asthma during adulthood. There was no independent association between leptinaemia, adiponectinaemia or other obesity-related biomarkers and asthma. In conclusion, although asthma appears to be linked with obesity in adults, the results do not support a significant role for leptin, adiponectin, or other standard obesity-related biomarkers studied, in this association.
Abstract
