The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7390 p258
4 March 2006

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Obesity may affect response to asthma treatments

Obesity can affect patients' response to different asthma treatments, data from a recent European Respiratory Journal study indicate (2006;27:495).

The retrospective analysis was performed on data pooled from four studies randomising 3,073 adults with asthma to receive montelukast, beclometasone or placebo.

Researchers observed a reduced response to beclometasone and placebo with increasing body mass index (BMI). At normal BMI beclometasone was superior to montelukast. However, montelukast response remained largely unaffected by BMI increases. The authors conclude that “differences in responsiveness to montelukast and beclometasone by body mass index may be important in considering treatment choices in individual adult asthmatics”.