Resident Physician Tulane University School of Medicine New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Disclosure(s):
Jooyoung Moon, MD: No financial relationships to disclose
Introduction/Rationale: Obesity is a recognized risk factor for asthma severity, but comprehensive population-level data analyses are limited. Understanding these associations is critical for addressing gaps in immunologic research and clinical interventions.
Methods: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from August 2021 through August 2023 was utilized to gather information regarding study participants with current asthma, as defined in the survey as responding "yes" to question MCQ035 "Still have asthma". BMI categories were defined as normal ( < 25 kg/m²), overweight (25–29.9 kg/m²), and obese (≥30 kg/m²). Severe asthma was defined as responding "yes" to either MCQ040 "Had asthma attack in past year" or MCQ050 "Emergency care visit for asthma/past yr". Chi-square tests of independence were performed to evaluate differences of the rates of severe asthma across BMI categories.
Results: The total number of survey participants with current asthma was 927. Sample size per BMI category was 294 for normal-weight, 234 for overweight, and 399 for obese. Asthma attack prevalence was 50.0% (147/294) among normal-weight, 45.7% (107/234) among overweight, and 51.1% (204/399) among obese participants (χ² = 1.78, df = 2, p = 0.41). ED visit prevalence was 13.9% (41/294), 14.5% (34/234), and 12.3% (49/399) for normal-weight, overweight, and obese groups, respectively (χ² = 0.79, df = 2, p = 0.67). Although obese participants had the highest absolute number of asthma attacks, differences across BMI categories were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: Asthma attacks and emergency care visits for asthma were prevalent across all BMI categories, highlighting a substantial asthma burden of regardless of BMI. These findings underscore the need for further studies to elucidate the association between obesity and asthma severity across the lifespan and to explore underlying immunologic mechanisms that may help develop more tailored asthma management plans.
