(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Asthma and obesity is a dangerous combination.

New research conducted by Kaiser Permanente shows obese people with the condition are nearly five times more likely to end up in the hospital with an asthma flare up compared to people of normal weight. The finding held true even after the researchers adjusted the results to take factors into account that could have influenced asthma severity, such as smoking.

The study was conducted among about 1,110 people age 35 or older who were diagnosed with persistent asthma. Other results showed obese asthmatics tended to be younger than non-obese asthmatics, generally had less education, used more oral corticosteroids to control their asthma and were more likely to suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease.

"The take-home message of this study for clinicians is that obese people with asthma need to be followed more carefully because it's harder to control their asthma," study co-author Dr. Michael Schatz, was quoted as saying. "My advice for obese asthmatics is: be vigilant to keep your asthma symptoms in check, make sure you know what to do when your symptoms worsen and do whatever you can to lose weight."

SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, published online September 4, 2008

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