Smoking and asthma in men and women with normal weight, overweight, and obesity

There is a complex interrelationship among smoking, body weight, and asthma. It needs to be clarified whether smoking is related to an increased risk of asthma after taking into account for relative body weight.

To examine the association between cigarette smoking and the prevalence of asthma in Canadian men and women with normal weight, overweight, and obesity.

The analysis was based on data from 112,830 Canadians aged 18 years or more who participated in a national survey in 2007-2008. A questionnaire covered the information on prevalent asthma, smoking status, height, weight, and other factors. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between smoking and the prevalence of asthma stratified by sex and body mass index (BMI).

The crude prevalence of asthma was 6.6% for men and 9.3% for women. After adjustment for covariates, the odds ratios (ORs) for current smoking associated with asthma was 1.20 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.43] for men with normal weight, 0.98 (95% CI: 0.81, 1.18) for overweight men, and 1.02 (95% CI: 0.80-1.30) for obese men. For women, the corresponding adjusted ORs were 1.41 (95% CI: 1.23-1.62), 1.27 (95% CI: 1.05-1.54), and 1.28 (95% CI: 1.03-1.59), respectively.

Current smoking was significantly associated with prevalent asthma in all women regardless of their relative body weight. In men, however, the association was only observed in those with under- or normal weight.