Results from the Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE) study published in the journal Respiratory Medicine show that obesity is associated with respiratory symptoms including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).¹

A team of researchers from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Estonia collaborated in this cross-sectional study to determine the relationship between respiratory diseases with type of obesity in men and women from the RHINE III study conducted from 2010 to 2012. “RHINE III is the second follow-up survey of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS)”. Participants for whom weight, height and waist circumference data was available were included in the current analysis.

Out of the 12,290 subjects included in the study, 4261 (34.7%) had abdominal obesity (based on waist circumference of ≥ 102 cm for men and ≥ 88 cm for women) and 1837 (6.7%) had general obesity (based on a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). More women were found to have abdominal obesity (63%) and general obesity (50%). Both types of obesity were linked to occurrence of respiratory symptoms in a significantly high percentage of participants with odds ratio (OR) ranging from 1.25 to 2.00. The risk of asthma was increased nearly 2-folds in women with abdominal as well as general obesity with ORs of 1.56 and 1.95, respectively. But no such association was observed in men, in whom the ORs were 1.22 and 1.28, respectively for asthma. A similar trend was noted for COPD in women compared with men.

Late-onset asthma had an independent association with obesity, both general and abdominal. However, no such observation was seen for early-onset asthma and allergic rhinitis. General obesity was associated with chronic bronchitis and COPD.

“Both general and abdominal obesity [were] independent of each other” in their association with respiratory symptoms, as shown in this study. However, the relationship between abdominal and general obesity with asthma and COPD was stronger in women only and not in men. Therefore, patients who present with respiratory symptoms should be evaluated for general obesity including abdominal obesity by measuring the waist circumference along with height and weight.

Reference

1. Kisiel MA, et al. Association between abdominal and general obesity and respiratory symptoms, asthma and COPD. Results from the RHINE study. Respir Med. 2023 May;211:107213. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2023.107213.