PLoS One. 2013 Apr 23;8(4):e61022. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061022. Print 2013.
Physical Deconditioning as a Cause of Breathlessness among Obese Adolescents with a Diagnosis of Asthma.
Source
Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Obese children frequently complain of breathlessness. Asthma and obesity can both contribute to the symptoms during exercise, and this symptom can contribute to a diagnosis of asthma in these children. Despite the high prevalence of obesity few studies have investigated the cardiopulmonary physiology of breathlessness in obese children with a diagnosis of asthma.
METHODS:
In this case-control study, thirty adolescents between age 12 and 19 were studied with baseline spirometry and a cardiopulmonary exercise test. Ten adolescents were normal controls, ten had obesity without a diagnosis of asthma, and ten had obesity with a history of physician-diagnosed asthma.
RESULTS:
Baseline characteristics including complete blood count and spirometry were comparable between obese adolescents with and without a diagnosis of asthma. During exercise, obese asthmatic and obese non-asthmatic adolescents had significantly reduced physical fitness compared to healthy controls as evidenced by decreased peak oxygen uptake after adjusting for actual body weight (21.7±4.5 vs. 21.4±5.4 vs. 35.3±5.8 ml/kg/min, respectively). However, pulmonary capacity at the peak of exercise was comparable among all three groups as evidenced by similar pulmonary reserve.
CONCLUSION:
In this study, breathlessness was primarily due to cardiopulmonary deconditioning in the majority of obese adolescents with or without a diagnosis of asthma.
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