CDC: Obese Women at Increased Asthma Risk

In a new report, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control has determined that the prevalence of asthma among obese US women is close to twice that of normal-weight men, but does not find the same association in US men.

Researchers analyzed data from the years 2011 to 2014, which was taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) across all adult age groups. The team found that, in that timeframe, obese women demonstrated a 14.6% prevalence for asthma, compared to 7.6% among normal-weight women, and 9.1% among women who were overweight.
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Overall, the group led by physician Lara Akinbami, MD, of the National Center for Health Statistics, found the overall prevalence of asthma among U.S. adults between the years 2011 and 2014 was 8.8%, while that number stood at 11.1% among obese adults, 7.8% for overweight adults, and 7.1% of normal-weight adults with asthma.

Akinbami notes that the report is based on survey data, “so [it] does not focus on clinical treatment or decision making. However, the finding of a higher risk of asthma among women with obesity but not among obese men raises some “obvious questions,” she says.

For example, “would preventing obesity in women also prevent them from developing asthma, and would counseling women with obesity and asthma to lose weight help work to either reduce their asthma symptoms or result in a complete resolution of asthma?”

Such questions “cannot be answered with our data, and would require carefully designed studies with patients in clinical settings,” says Akinbami.

Still, the finding that asthma prevalence is higher among adults with obesity across race and age groups, along with numerous studies outlining other health risks of obesity such as heart disease and diabetes, “is consistent with general counseling for patients to maintain a healthy weight.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Akinbami L, Fryar C. Current asthma prevalence by weight status among older adults: United States, 2001-2014. NCHS Data Brief. 2016.