Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of asthma patients from the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study (n = 472)
| BMI < 30 kg/m2 | BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 | Difference (95% CI)a | |
|---|---|---|---|
| n = 224 | n = 248 | ||
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 55.4 (5.9) | 54.9 (6.3) | −0.5 (−1.6, 0.6) |
| Sex, n (% men) | 98 (44) | 87 (35) | 8.7 (−0.1, 17.5) |
| Height in meters, mean (SD) | 1.7 (0.1) | 1.7 (0.1) | −0.0 (−0.0, 0.0) |
| BMI in kg/m2, mean (SD)b | 27.1 (2.4) | 34.9 (4.4) | 7.8 (7.2, 8.5) |
| Smoking | 1.3 (−10.5, 13.2) | ||
| Never, n (%) | 83 (37) | 94 (38) | |
| Former, n (%) | 117 (52) | 122 (49) | |
| Current, n (%) | 24 (11) | 32 (13) | |
| Alcohol intake in g/d, mean (SD)b | 15.6 (16.4) | 11.4 (15.3) | −3.2 (−6.1, −0.3) |
| Ethnicity, n (% Caucasian) | 208 (93) | 235 (95) | 1.9 (−2.5, 6.3) |
| Education, n (% high) | 98 (44) | 80 (32) | −11.5 (−20.3, −2.7) |
| Physical activity MET h/week, mean (SD)b | 38.7 (35.5) | 31.4 (30.8) | −7.3 (−13.4, −1.3) |
| Medication | |||
| SABA, n (%) | 34 (15) | 49 (20) | 4.6 (−2.3, 11.4) |
| LABA, n (%) | 8 (4) | 11 (4) | 0.9 (−2.7, 4.4) |
| SAMA, n (%) | 1 (1) | 7 (3) | 2.4 (1.2, 4.6) |
| LAMA, n (%) | 12 (5) | 12 (5) | 0.5 (−4.5, 3.5) |
| ICS, n (%) | 41 (18) | 41 (17) | −1.8 (−8.7, 5.1) |
| Combination LABA + ICS, n (%) | 71 (32) | 84 (34) | 2.2 (−6.3, 10.7) |
| Asthma duration in years, mean (SD)b | 19.4 (18) | 20.5 (18.1) | 1.1 (−2.1, 4.4) |
BMI body mass index, g/d gram/day, MET metabolic equivalent of tasks, SABA short-acting beta-agonists, LABA long-acting beta-agonists, SAMA short-acting muscarinic antagonists, LAMA long-acting β2-adrenergic antagonists, ICS inhalation corticosteroids
aDifferences are presented as difference in means for continuous variables and difference in percentage for categorical variables
bLinear regression analyses with robust standard errors are used for dichotomous variables and non-normally distributed variables