Obesity and Asthma:a Specific Phenotype

Clinicians frequently observed that obese women referred for severe asthma do not respond to treatment. These patients, despite the presence of wheezing, often have normal expiratory flows and normal or "borderline" airway responsiveness. It is therefore possible that this mode of presentation reflect a pseudo-asthmatic state for which clinical definition and characteristics and optimal management remain to be determined. The aim of this study was to study the pulmonary physiological and airway inflammatory characteristics and response to treatment of obese women considered to have clinically severe asthma in order to demonstrate that some of these patients have a phenotype that is not that of asthma.