Obesity and asthma. Key clinical questions.

The objective of this document is to conduct a systematic review of 3 clinical questions related to asthma and obesity: 1. Obesity and asthma: the chicken or the egg? Clinical insights from epidemiological and phenotypes studies. 2. Is obesity a confounding factor in the diagnosis and management of asthma and especially in severe or difficult-to-control asthma? 3. How obese asthma subjects respond to pharmacological treatments, and to biological drugs? Do we have effective specific interventions?. Revised epidemiological, pathological and mechanistic evidence combined with data from the intervention clinical trials do not allow us to clearly state that obesity is an asthma-causative agent. However, the complexity and heterogeneity of these two illnesses make several clinical scenarios possible. Furthermore, the diagnosis of asthma in an obese patient represents an additional clinical challenge. Physicians need to be aware of the confounding effects created by the greater symptomatic perception, the alterations of lung function and the different comorbidities that the obese subjects present. A exhaustive phenotyping of the obese asthma patient should lead us to a rational therapeutic plan, including both, the pharmacological approach and anti-obesity specific therapies including a combined plan of diet and exercise and in extreme cases, bariatric surgery. PMID: 30222113 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol Source Type: research