TOPLINE:
Individuals with either high or low body mass index (BMI) showed an increased risk for respiratory symptoms and diseases than those with BMI in the normal range.
METHODOLOGY:
- The researchers reviewed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2003 to 2012; the study population included 12,719 adults older than 40 years with data on respiratory symptoms; 51% were female, and 53.3% were non-Hispanic White individuals.
- The study population was divided into quartiles based on BMI as follows: 3180 individuals with BMI of 13.2-24.9 kg/m2, 3175 with BMI of 24.9-28.4 kg/m2, 3180 with BMI of 28.4-32.5 kg/m2, and 3184 with BMI of 32.5-82.0 kg/m2.
- The study sought to assess the correlation between BMI and respiratory symptoms (cough, wheezing, and dyspnea), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and asthma in unadjusted and adjusted models based on sex, race, marital status, poverty-income ratio (PIR), education level, and smoking status.
TAKEAWAY:
- In a logistic regression and curve fitting analysis, BMI showed a U-shaped relationship with respiratory symptoms, asthma, and COPD, with increased risk in individuals with high or low BMI than those with BMIs in the middle quartiles.
- In a stratified analysis by race, the risk for cough was significantly higher among non-Hispanic Black individuals than other races (P < .0001), and a higher BMI was associated with an increased risk for COPD in non-Hispanic Black individuals (odds ratio, 1.053; P < .0001).
- The researchers found no significant impact of biological sex on the relationship between BMI and respiratory symptoms, COPD, or asthma.
- The results support previous studies showing that a BMI that is too low can be detrimental to health.
IN PRACTICE:
“These results suggest that the risk of small airway obstruction in underweight individuals deserves more attention and that excessive wasting may also affect the prognosis of patients with COPD,” the researchers wrote.
SOURCE:
The lead author on the study was Yuefeng Sun of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China. The study was published online on January 10, 2024, in Scientific Reports.
LIMITATIONS:
The cross-sectional NHANES database prevented conclusions of causality, and potential confounding factors that were not accounted for could have affected the results.
DISCLOSURES:
The study was supported by the Shandong Province Taishan Scholar Project. The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.