Abstract
If systemic inflammation in relation with obesity causes asthma, the detection of increased airway inflammation among obese individuals who do not have any respiratory symptoms can be also beneficial in indentifying obese patients who are at risk of developing asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the systemic and airway inflammation of asymptomatic obese and non-obese individuals. Obese and non-obese individuals with no respiratory symptoms were included. Inflammatory biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), exhaled breath condensate (EBC) interleukin-6 (IL-6), EBC leukotriene B-4 (LTB-4), and EBC nitric oxide (NO) levels of obese and non-obese individuals were determined. Forty-five obese individuals (body mass index [BMI]≥30) and 31 non-obese individuals (BMI≤25) as a control group were included in this study. The mean age of the obese group (38.7±11.4 years) was significantly higher than the one of the non-obese group (29.5±8.6 years; p<0.001). There was no significant relationship between gender and BMI (χ2 =1.471, p=0.225). CRP levels were significantly higher in the obese group (6.94±8.28) than the non-obese group (3.29±0.39; p<0.001). The levels of EBC IL-6 in obese and non-obese group were found as 22.61±12.53 and 21.08±14.39, respectively (p=0.624). There was no significant difference between EBC NO levels of the obese group and non-obese group (24.35±10.9 vs. 21.56±7.83; p=0.226). No significant difference was found between the EBC LTB-4 level in the obese group and the non-obese group (36.39±89.82 vs. 16.64±17.45; p=0.231). Increased systemic inflammation in obese individuals who had no respiratory symptoms might indicate the tendency of asthma. However, airway inflammation was not significantly different between groups. Therefore the relationship between obesity and asthma should be investigated in future large-scale studies determining the direct effects of adipokines on airways.
Highlights
Obesity is an increasing global public health problem [1]
C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were significantly higher in the obese group (6.94±8.28) than the non-obese group (3.29±0.39; p
No significant difference was found between the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) leukotriene B-4 (LTB-4) level in the obese group and the non-obese group (36.39±89.82 vs. 16.64±17.45; p=0.231)
Summary
Obesity is an increasing global public health problem [1]. The prevalence of asthma keeps increasing in obese individuals, and over 75% of the people who are consulted in emergency room with severe asthma are obese or overweight [2,3,4,5,6]. The simultaneous increase in asthma and obesity prevalence and asthma-like symptoms in obese individuals make researchers think that there may be a link and common pathogenesis between two conditions. The relation between obesity and asthma is tried to be explained by mechanical and inflammatory theories [7]. The proinflammatory adipokines excreted from the adipose tissue cause both systemic and airway inflammation that leads to asthma [1,2,3]. Previous studies have shown that interleukin-6 (IL-6) and leukotriene B-4 (LTB-4) are associated with the allergic pathogenesis of asthma and allergic diseases [8]
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