Association Between Airway Parameters and Abdominal Fat Measured via Computed Tomography in Asthmatic Patients

We aimed to investigate whether airway parameters, assessed via computed tomography (CT), are associated with abdominal fat areas and to compare the clinical characteristics of asthmatic patients with and without elevated visceral to subcutaneous fat area ratio (EV).

Asthmatic patients (aged ≥40 years) were prospectively recruited. Chest (airway) and fat areas were assessed via CT. Airway parameters, including bronchial wall thickness (WT), lumen diameter (LD), lumen area (LA), wall area (WA), total area (TA), as well as WA/TA percentage (wall area %) were measured at the apical segmental bronchus in the right upper lobe. Visceral (VFA), subcutaneous (SFA) and total (TFA) fat areas (cm²) were also measured. The correlations between abdominal fat areas and airway parameters were assessed. EV was defined as VFA/SFA ≥ 0.4.

Fifty asthmatic patients were included (mean age 62.9 years; 52% female); 38% had severe asthma. Significant correlations were found between VFA and both LD and LA (r = -0.35, P = 0.01; r = -0.34, P = 0.02, respectively), and SFA and both WA and TA (r = 0.38, P = 0.007; r = 0.34, P = 0.02, respectively). Exacerbations, requiring corticosteroid therapy or ER visitation, were significantly more frequent in subjects without EV (83% vs. 34%, P = 0.05).

Abdominal fat is associated with asthma, according to the location of fat accumulation. In asthmatic subjects, visceral fat seems to be attributable to the bronchial luminal narrowing, while subcutaneous fat may be related to thickening of bronchial wall.