Obesity is a risk for asthma and wheeze but not airway hyperresponsiveness

BACKGROUND—A study was undertaken to assess whether the recent increases in prevalence of both asthma and obesity are linked and to determine if obesity is a risk factor for diagnosed asthma, symptoms, use of asthma medication, or airway hyperresponsiveness. METHODS—Data from 1971 white adults aged 17-73 years from three large epidemiological studies performed in NSW were pooled. Doctor diagnosis of asthma ever, history of wheeze, and medication use in the previous 12 months were obtained by questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI) in kg/m2 was used as a measure of obesity. Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) was defined as dose of