In patients hospitalized for asthma exacerbation, obese patients were more likely to have makers of higher acute severity, including any mechanical ventilation use, non-invasive mechanical ventilation use, and hospital length-of-stay of ≥3 days, when compared to non-obesity. These associations remained significant after adjusting for the potential confounders and potential clustering within the hospitals. The number of asthma deaths was low (n=116), which limited statistical power, but there was no significant association between obesity and in-hospital mortality.
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio
† Adjusted model was not constructed because of the relatively few number of in-hospital mortality (n=116)