Do obese adults have a higher risk of asthma attack when exposed to indoor mold? A study based on the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

June 6, 2009

Its to bad they missed the link between obsesity from exposure to indoor molds

and that severe asthma has been treated with anti-fungals sucsessfully.

Public

Health Rep. 2009 May-Jun;124( 3):436-41.LinkOut

Do obese adults have a higher risk of asthma attack when exposed to indoor

mold? A study based on the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Wen XJ, Balluz L, Mokdad A.

Behavioral Surveillance Branch, National Center for Chronic

Diseases/Division of Adult and Community Health, Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy., MS-K66, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.

OBJECTIVE: Some studies show an association between asthma and

obesity, but it is unknown whether exposure to mold will increase the risk of

asthma attacks among obese people. This study examined whether obese adults have

a higher risk of asthma attacks than non-obese adults when exposed to indoor

mold. METHODS: We used data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance

System to conduct a cross-sectional analysis among 9,668 respondents who

reported exposure to indoor mold. RESULTS: With exposure to indoor mold,

weighted prevalence of asthma attacks among obese respondents was 11.4% (95%

confidence interval [CI] 6.0, 20.6], which was 2.3 times as high as among the

exposed non-obese respondents (5.0%, 95% CI 2.8, 8.8). This ratio was almost the

same as the ratio of 2.0:1 between the obese respondents (5.7%, 95% CI 4.6, 7.2)

and the non-obese respondents (2.8%, 95% CI 2.3, 3.9) when neither group had

exposure to mold. The odds ratio of asthma attack among obese people was 3.10

(95% CI 1.10, 8.67) for those with exposure to mold and 2.21 (95% CI 1.54, 3.17)

for those without exposure to mold after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity,

and smoking status. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that obese adults who have

been exposed to indoor mold may not necessarily have a higher risk of asthma

attack than obese adults who have not been exposed, even though obesity and

exposure to indoor mold are both major risk factors for asthma attack. Medical

professionals should not only incorporate weight-control or weight-reduction

measures as the components of asthma treatment plans, but also advise asthma

patients to avoid exposure to indoor mold.

PMID: 19445420 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC2663880 [Available on

2011/05/01]

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