Can overweight/obesity and smoking have combined effects on bronchial hyperresponsiveness?

摘要

To the Editor: We read with interest the article by Juusela et al [1], which showed a significant risk factor for bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) with a dose-dependent pattern and which underlined that BHR severity increases with increased smoking (pack-years) in an adult sample of the general population. Unfortunately, in their study the authors did not analyse a possible additional influence of overweight/obese status on BHR. In fact, several researchers have shown that the overweight/obese condition may be a risk factor for BHR (adjusted for smoking), both in healthy subjects and, in particular, in asthmatics [2-4].