Chest
Original Research: AsthmaEffects of Weight Loss on Airway Responsiveness in Obese Adults With Asthma: Does Weight Loss Lead to Reversibility of Asthma?
Section snippets
Study Design
In this 3-month prospective, controlled, parallel-group study in obese participants with physiologically proven asthma, we compared intervention participants who followed a low-calorie diet for the first 3 months of a 12-month behavioral weight reduction program to control participants who engaged in no specific weight management strategy while waiting for bariatric surgery. The study was approved by the Ottawa Health Science Network Research Ethics Board (2009847-01H).
Setting
The Weight Management
Results
Figure 1 presents the study flow. A total of 142 potentially eligible participants expressed interest in the study. Fifty-five (38.7') refused to participate following contact with the research team, and 25 (17.6') were excluded from the study. Sixty-two (43.7') signed a consent form and completed a baseline questionnaire. Forty-four subsequently completed an MCT, 22 of whom had positive results that confirmed their asthma diagnosis and eligibility to be part of the prospective 3-month
Discussion
This study demonstrated that a behavioral weight reduction program is associated with significant improvements in PC20, FEV1, FVC, asthma control, and quality of life in obese people with physiologically proven asthma. There was no change in any of these asthma outcomes in control participants who followed no weight-loss strategy. The results support findings of previous research that relate weight loss to improved lung function, asthma control, and quality of life10, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 and add
Conclusions
This study suggests that weight loss in obese adults with asthma leads to significant improvements in asthma severity measured by AHR, resulting in normalization or improvements in AHR to methacholine (PC20), lung function, asthma control, and quality of life. These findings support the need to actively pursue healthy weight-loss measures in obese adults with asthma.
Acknowledgments
Author contributions: S. P. had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the analysis. S. P., R. D., K. V., and S. D. A. contributed to the study concept and design; S. P., J. B., R. D., and S. D. A. contributed to the data analysis and interpretation; and S. P., J. B., R. D., K. V., and S. D. A. contributed to the drafting, critical revision for important intellectual content, and final approval of the manuscript.
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FUNDING/SUPPORT: Funding for this study was provided by the Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, and the Ontario Thoracic Society.
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