The Asthma–Obesity Epidemic

Abstract

Obesity is a risk factor for the development of asthma. Understanding this link between obesity and asthma has major public health implications for developing strategies to prevent the development of asthma and to guide the management of such patients. Obese patients with asthma experience poor asthma control, worse asthma-specific quality of life, and limited response to corticosteroids. This review provides a succinct summary of the current body of literature on the epidemiological relationship between asthma and obesity, the different phenotypes of asthma in obesity, and data on the efficacy of weight loss and discusses the potential role of primary prevention efforts for the current asthma epidemic.