Effect of obesity and metabolic syndrome on severity, quality of life, sleep quality and inflammatory markers in patients of asthma in India.

INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to compare the effect of obesity with and without metabolic syndrome on asthma severity, quality of life, sleep quality, sleep disordered breathing and inflammatory markers as compared to non-obese asthma patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: 60 asthma patients recruited for the study were divided equally into non-obese (NOA), obese without metabolic syndrome (OANMS) and obese with metabolic syndrome (OAMS) groups. Study cohorts were assessed for severity of asthma, quality of life and quality of sleep using questionnaires and inflammatory markers (FENO, hs-CRP, IL-5, IL-6 and leptin). Institutional ethical committee approved the study.

RESULTS: The results suggests OAMS patients may be a subtype of asthmatics having significantly severe asthma (p < 0.05), poor quality of life (p < 0.05), high risk of OSA (p< 0.05), decreased lung volumes (FRC) (p< 0.05), higher levels of inflammatory markers (leptin and IL-6) (p < 0.05), and high incidence of sleep disordered breathing (p < 0.05) in comparison to NOA and OANMS patients.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study has shown that obese asthmatics especially with metabolic syndrome represent a subtype of asthmatic population. Hence, the treatment of metabolic syndrome may be necessary in addition to asthma to achieve optimal control.