TY - JOUR T1 - Body mass index, disease control and airway inflammation in asthmatic patients JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p4008 AU - Roberta Pisi AU - Marina Aiello AU - Panagiota Tzani AU - Emilio Marangio AU - Dario Olivieri AU - Alfredo Chetta Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4008.abstract N2 - Background: The association between overweight and asthma remains controversial.Aim: To investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI), disease control and airway inflammation in an asthmatic population.Methods: We consecutively studied 408 patients (43±16 yr; 248 F). In all patients, BMI, spirometry, Asthma Control Test (ACT) and Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO, ppb) were measured.Results: 205 patients had a BMI > 25 kg/m2 and, as compared to those with normal BMI, had lower values of FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, FEF25, FEF75 and FEF25-75 (p<0.05 for each comparison). The ratio between the number of patients with well controlled asthma (ACT ≥ 20) and that of patients with poor controlled asthma (ACT < 20) was significantly lower in patients with increased BMI (106/99 vs 131/71; χ2= 7.227, p<0.01). In patients with increased BMI, the odds ratio of uncontrolled asthma was 1.723 (95% CI = 1.157-2.566). No difference was observed in FeNO values between the two groups of patients.Conclusions: Our results show that in an asthmatic population, the increase in BMI is associated with poor spirometry and worse disease control, but not with FeNO values. ER -