Here is one more reason why one should avoid all the things that can make them obese, especially the asthmatic ones. According to a new study, obese people with asthma are almost 5 times more susceptible to getting hospitalized than their non-obese counterparts.
The researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, Oregon, and the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Research, Denver, Colorado, had surveyed 1,113 patients belonging to Oregon, Washington and Colorado. This is the first study that was conducted to control the risk factors that lead to asthma which include – smoking, use of oral or inhaled corticosteroid medications, gastroesophageal reflux disorder and demographics. One risk factor discovered during the study was obesity.
The patients examined by the researchers belonged to age-group of 35 and above.
“The big finding here is that even after adjusting for risk factors, obese adults were nearly 5 times more likely to be hospitalised for their asthma,†said study lead author David M. Mosen, PhD, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research.
“Given that nearly 30 percent of our country is obese, this study is yet another example of the long-term dangers of obesity, along with heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and dementia.â€
The patients were also enquired about the weight, height, smoking habits, other illnesses, treatment, asthma-specific quality of life, asthma control, and asthma-related hospitalisations.
It was found from the study that people stricken with obesity and asthma had very worse control on asthma and that their quality of life was relatively low. Plus they were also determined to have 4.6 times high risk of getting hospitalised for asthma related complications as compared to the non-obese asthmatics. Also, it was found that the obese asthmatics had higher chances of developing gastroesophageal disorder and used more oral corticosteroids.
Co-author of the study Michael Schatz, MD, Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center, San Diego, California concludes that the vital message that can be derived from this study is that more careful examination and follow-up of obese asthmatics is required on the part of clinicians and this is the set of people that have more chances of ending up at the hospital.