A new study shows that obese, non-allergic women are at a greater asthma risk than their male-counterparts. Researchers from the University of Ottawa administered a survey to over 85,000 Canadians that included questions about self-reported asthma, allergy history, height, and weight. After controlling for covariates, results showed that obese women had an 85 percent increase in the risk of asthma, compared with women at a normal weight. Obese men had a 20 percent increase in the likelihood of asthma, compared with men at a normal weight. One unit of increased body mass index (BMI) was associated with an increased asthma risk of 6 percent in women and 3 percent in men. The study also found that obese, non-allergic women showed a 9.5 percent asthma risk, while their normal-weight counterparts showed only a 3.1 percent risk. Researchers concluded that the association between increased BMI and asthma was stronger among non-allergic adults than allergic adults, primarily in women. This study appears in the September issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

####

Newsbriefs from the journal CHEST, September 2006

Contact: Deana Busche
American College of Chest Physicians