A Clinical Study of Relationship of Body Mass Index with Allergic Rhinitis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives Although the association between obesity and bronchial asthma (BA) has been gaining more attention, few studies have been conducted concerning the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and other allergic diseases. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between allergic rhinitis (AR) and BMI. Materials and methods This was a retrospective study. Two hundred and ten patients of AR (138 males and 72 females) and 424 healthy controls were included in the study. The BMI of patients and controls were calculated and correlated. Results The percentage of AR patients with a low BMI was 9.5%, whereas 57.6% had a normal BMI; 21% were preobese and 9.5% were obese. In the control group, 48.6% subjects had normal BMI range followed by preobese 21.2%, underweight 20.3%, and obese 9.9%. Among the overweight (preobese+ obese) category, the maximum number of subjects belonged to cases, i.e., 32.8% with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.95 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.91-1.07). Thus, AR was not associated with high BMI. Among the underweight, the maximum number of subjects belonged to the control group, i.e., 20.3% with an OR of 2.13 (95% CI 1.24-3.68). Thus, AR had no relationship with lower BMI also. It was also observed that more of the female patients (18, 29.1, and 12.5% were underweight, preobese, and obese respectively) had deranged BMI than male patients (5.3, 20.2, and 7.9% were underweight, preobese, and obese respectively). A relative risk of 1.124 (95% CI 1.01-1.23) and 1.04 (95% CI 0.95-1.13) was present in female patients with low and high BMI respectively, which is statistically significant (p = 0.0008). Conclusion It was concluded that BMI was not associated with increased prevalence of AR. Among the underweight and overweight, AR was more common in females than in males. Thus, BMI had a significant association with AR among female patients. Overall, BMI had no significant association with AR. How to cite this article Kala H, Bhagat S, Varshney S, Bist SS. A Clinical Study of Relationship of Body Mass Index with Allergic Rhinitis. Clin Rhinol An Int J 2016;9(1):33-36.