HEALTHStudy looks at treatment link for obesity, asthmaExperts say the findings point the way for future research regarding how a patient's weight may affect his or her disease.By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. March 20, 2006. The interplay of obesity, asthma and certain medications highlight an emerging understanding of why some drugs might be more effective for some people, a new study says. Specifically, inhaled corticosteroids are more effective than leukotriene antagonists in patients with asthma, but the impact of corticosteroids is lessened if a patient is obese. The effect of the leukotriene antagonists also increases as the patient's weight increases, says the March European Respiratory Journal. "It is increasingly recognized that obese people are more prone to develop asthma, but there is no information about whether obesity influences people's responses to particular asthma medications," says Marc Peters-Golden, MD, lead author and professor of internal medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. "Our findings are the first to suggest the possibility that obesity might be a factor that influences how well asthmatics respond to particular medications." Researchers pooled the results of four double-blind, placebo-controlled studies that randomized more than 3,000 adults to either the leukotriene modifier montelukast or the inhaled corticosteroid beclomethasone. They then analyzed the results, taking into account the participants' body mass indexes. Beclomethasone nearly doubled the percentage of asthma control days in those who were lean. This impact was less striking in those who were heavier, and the difference between the two drugs was not statistically significant at higher BMIs. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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