The incidence of obesity and asthma in both children and adults continues to rise but the association of asthma and obesity is more than just a coincidence. The combination of asthma and obesity is a complex association probably working in two directions at once, namely, preexisting asthma that is worsened by obesity and asthma that is induced by underlying obesity. Overall, patients with a picture of both asthma and obesity experience more difficulty in controlling their asthma, increased exacerbation rates and represent a much more difficult patient to treat.
The basic biologic reason for the difficulty with the obesity/asthma association at the molecular level is slowly being worked out. Not surprisingly, some of the newer treatments for weight loss and asthma biologics seem to have promise in helping many of these patients. Some of the injectable drugs for weight loss both in diabetics and non-diabetics appear to have some benefit for the patients with the obesity/asthma syndrome over and about just the weight loss features. Likewise, most of the biologic therapies used for patients with so-called eosinophilic asthma appear to be very effective in the obesity/asthma group.
If you suffer from asthma and are obese, you need to know that you have a more difficult problem than most patients who have asthma alone. You may need a multi-disciplinary approach to help control your symptoms. You need specialty help from those who understand the nexus of both your problems and how it influences the choice of treatment.
