The treatment of asthma in obesity

The world is facing an unprecedented epidemic of obesity. This epidemic has led to major changes in the epidemiology of common diseases such as asthma. Obesity is a major risk factor for new-onset asthma. This article will discuss the role of mechanical and metabolic factors, as well as obesity-related comorbidities, in both causing airway disease and also affecting response to therapy in obese asthmatics. Asthma in obese individuals probably includes a spectrum of disease with at least two distinct phenotypes: early-onset allergic disease complicated by obesity and late-onset disease developing in the setting of obesity. Both phenotypes are distinct from asthma in lean individuals. Treatment of asthma in obesity needs to consider altered response to controller therapy, and the fact that mechanical factors, metabolic inflammation and other comorbidities are probably contributing to airway disease. Future studies should focus on the development of therapies specifically tailored towards the treatment of asthma in obesity.