[Obesity and the severity of asthma crisis]

Obesity is associated with inflammatory processes, which could influence the airway inflammation that is found in patients with asthma. Obesity may thus have a role in the development of asthma. However, the role of obesity in the severity of acute asthma has not been well described.

We performed a retrospective study, which included 77 patients hospitalized for acute asthma. Two groups of patients were formed according to their body mass index (BMI): group 1 consisting of 59 patients with a BMI inferior to 30 kg/m(2) and group 2 consisting of 18 patients with a BMI superior or equal to 30 kg/m(2). These two groups were compared according to demographic factors, clinical features and the spirometric severity of asthma.

The mean age was 43 ± 17.4 years with a sex-ratio 0.57 (28 men/49 women). Thirty-one percent of these patients had a severe asthma attack requiring hospitalization in intensive care in four patients with the use of mechanical ventilation in two patients. The comparison between obese and non-obese patients did not show a significant difference in the severity of asthma.

Although a contribution of obesity to the manifestation and severity of asthma is commonly recognized, the present data to not confirm the impact of obesity on the severity of acute attacks.