PEEP as Rescue Therapy for Asthmatics With Elevated BMI

The purpose of this study is to test the effect of increasing lung volume with a simple hand-held device to both prevent, and also to relieve, airway constriction in people with asthma and a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2. Twenty people with late onset non-allergic asthma and a BMI of ≥ 30 kg/m2 will be recruited. The efficacy of elevating lung volume on both preventing and reversing bronchoconstriction will be tested. Lung volume will be modulated by breathing out against a small level of resistance (positive expiratory pressure).