Twin Epidemics: Asthma and Obesity

of Allergy and Immunology is both important and timely. Using a validated questionnaire of respiratory symptoms and medication use, the authors examined the prevalence of asthma in a nationwide Japanese population of nearly 23,000 individuals. Stratifying the results by body mass index (BMI), and using logistic regression analysis to adjust for the effects of age, smoking status, allergic rhinitis and pet ownership, the authors found a striking J-shaped relationship between BMI and both asthma prevalence and respiratory symptoms. Using subjects with a BMI of 18.5–22.9 as the referent group, a statistically significant increase in asthma prevalence was observed among men with a BMI of 6 27.5 and among women with a BMI of