Anthropometric measurements and indicators of body fat distribution in patients with bronchial asthma

Adil Ballal Mohamed  Ahmed; Hanadi Abdelgadir Ahmed  Sourg; Ramaze Farouke  Elhakeem; Mohamed Faisal  Lutfi

doi:10.52981/smlj.v8i1.2562

Adil Ballal Mohamed Ahmed College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, KSA
Hanadi Abdelgadir Ahmed Sourg Faculty of Medicine, Al Neelain University, Khartoum, Sudan - Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
Ramaze Farouke Elhakeem College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, KSA
Mohamed Faisal Lutfi College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, KSA - Nile College of Medicine Khartoum, Sudan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52981/smlj.v8i1.2562

Keywords: Anthropometric measurements, bronchial asthma, obesity

Abstract

Background: Previous studies repeatedly demonstrate a higher prevalence of bronchial asthma (BA) in subjects with high as well as low body mass index (BMI). This U-shaped associations between BMI and BA raise a question whether indicators of body fat distribution are helpful to predict BA prevalence and symptom control. The aim of this study was to evaluate anthropometric measurements and indicators of body fat distribution in asthmatic patients.
Materials and Methods: One hundred and twenty asthmatic patients were recruited from chest refer clinics - Military Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan and served as the test group. Another 59 non–asthmatic subjects were recruited from co-patients, University students/employees and served as the control group. Following clinical and spirometric evaluation of the studied subjects, the following were measured: body weight, height, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), triceps (TSF), biceps (BSF), subscapular (SSSF) and suprailiac (SISF) skinfolds thicknesses and the ratio between waist and hip circumferences (WHR). Body fat percent (BF %) and BMI were calculated. Based on BMI, studied subjects were categorized into four classes: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese.
Results: Although BMI, HC, TSF, BSF, SSSF, SISF and BF% were higher in asthmatic patients compared to non-asthmatic subjects, the difference of each of these parameters did not reach statistical significance. WC and WHR were significantly higher in asthmatic patients (88.50 (78.00- 101.75), 83.00 (78.47- 90.17)) compared with non-asthmatic subjects (81.00 (72.00- 92.00), 80.00 (75.67- 85.10), P = 0.004, 0.003). Presence of BA in underweight subject was comparable to normal BMI subjects (OR=1.05). However, presence of BA increases steadily in overweight (OR=1.46) and obese subjects (OR=2.67) compared with normal BMI subjects. Presence of symptoms at the time of the study increases in underweight (OR=3.55), overweight (OR=2.13) as well as obese (OR=3.43) compared to normal BMI subjects.
Conclusion: The results of the present study provide further evidence for the association between BA and obesity. Although all indicators of body fat distribution were higher in asthmatic patients compared to non-asthmatic subjects, only WC and WHR reached statistical significance, which points to the importance of abdominal obesity in the pathophysiology of BA.

References

1. Brumpton B, Langhammer A, Romundstad P, Chen Y, Mai XM. General and abdominal obesity and incident asthma in adults: the HUNT study. Eur Respir J. 2013 Feb; 41(2):323-9.
2. Luder E, Ehrlich RI, Lou WYW, Melnik TA, Kattan M. Body mass index and the risk of asthma in adults. Respiratory medicine. 2004; 98(1):29-37.
3. Von Behren J, Lipsett M, Horn-Ross PL, Delfino RJ, Gilliland F, McConnell R, et al. Obesity, waist size and prevalence of current asthma in the California Teachers Study cohort. Thorax. 2009; 64(10):889-93.
4. Bustos P, Amigo H, Oyarzun M, Rona RJ. Is there a causal relation between obesity and asthma? Evidence from Chile. International journal of obesity. 2005; 29(7):804-9.
5. Guerra S, Sherrill DL, Bobadilla A, Martinez FD, Barbee RA. The relation of body mass index to asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. Chest. 2002; 122(4):1256-63.
6. Sin DD, Jones RL, Man SFP. Obesity is a risk factor for dyspnea but not for airflow obstruction. Archives of internal medicine. 2002; 162(13):1477-81.
7. Appleton SL, Adams RJ, Wilson DH, Taylor AW, Ruffin RE, North West Adelaide Health Study T. Central obesity is associated with nonatopic but not atopic asthma in a representative population sample. Journal of allergy and clinical immunology. 2006; 118(6):1284-91.
8. Ghanim H, Aljada A, Hofmeyer D, Syed T, Mohanty P, Dandona P. Circulating mononuclear cells in the obese are in a proinflammatory state. Circulation. 2004; 110(12):1564-71.
9. Lutfi MF.The physiological basis and clinical significance of lung volume measurements. Multi-disciplinary respiratory medicine.2017;12(1) :3.
10.Carpio C, Garcia-Rio F, Romero D, FernÃ¡ndez I, Galera R, Villasante C, et al. Effects of obesity on dyspnea perception in fictitious patients with asthma. Chest. 2014; 145(3 Suppl):13A-A.
11.Celedon JC, Palmer LJ, Litonjua AA, Weiss ST, Wang B, Fang Z, et al. Body mass index and asthma in adults in families of subjects with asthma in Anqing, China. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine. 2001; 164(10):1835-40.
12. Chinn S, Jarvis D, Burney P. Relation of bronchial responsiveness to body mass index in the ECRHS. Thorax. 2002; 57(12):1028-33.
13. Abbas W, Adam I, Rayis DA, Hassan NG, Lutfi MF. Higher Rate of Iron Deficiency in Obese Pregnant Sudanese Women. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2017 Jun 15; 5(3):285-9.
14. Flegal KM, Kit BK, Graubard BI. Body mass index categories in observational studies of weight and risk of death. Am J Epidemiol. 2014 Aug 1; 180(3):288-96.
15. Dioum A, Gartner A, Maire B, Delpeuch F, Wade S. Body composition predicted from skin folds in African women: a cross validation study using air displacement plethysmography and a black-specific equation. Br J Nutr. 2005 Jun; 93(6):973-9.
16.Seidell JC, De Groot LC, Van Sonsbeek JL, Deurenberg P, Hautvast JG. Associations of moderate and severe overweight with self-reported illness and medical care in Dutch adults. American journal of public health. 1986; 76(3):264-9.
17. Beckett WS, Jacobs Jr DR, Yu X, Iribarren C, Williams OD. Asthma is associated with weight gain in females but not males, independent of physical activity. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine. 2001; 164(11):2045-50.
18. Shaheen SO, Sterne JAC, Montgomery SM, Azima H. Birth weight, body mass index and asthma in young adults thorax.1999;54(5):396-402.
19. Camargo CA, Jr., Weiss ST, Zhang S, Willett WC, Speizer FE. Prospective study of body mass index, weight change, and risk of adult-onset asthma in women. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Nov 22; 159(21):2582-8.
20.Negri E, Pagano R, Decarli A, La Vecchia C. Body weight and the prevalence of chronic diseases. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 1988; 42(1):24-9.
21. Lutfi MF. Vital capacity derived spirometric measurements. Sudan Med J. 2012; 48(2):86-100.
22.Tsigos C, Kyrou I, Chala E, Tsapogas P, Stavridis JC, Raptis SA, et al. Circulating tumor necrosis factor alpha concentrations are higher in abdominal versus peripheral obesity. Metabolism. 1999; 48(10):1332-5.