Ian Saldanha, PhD, MPH, MBBS

About 60% of patients with asthma in the U.S. have obesity. This is a major public health issue because obesity may worsen asthma. Some common medications for asthma are less effective among people with obesity. Further, the effects of weight-loss medications on asthma are largely unknown. This group previously did two studies showing that 5% weight loss may lead to better asthma control. However, in one study, when compared with placebo, one medication (roflumilast) led to poor asthma control and more frequent urgent care visits for asthma. This study will conduct a systematic review of weight-loss medications to help us select treatments to test more rigorously in a randomized controlled trial of weight-loss medications on asthma. If successful, this project will likely shift current research and clinical practice in the management of obesity in patients with asthma.

Update:

We have developed and registered the study protocol, done a literature search, and completed the screening of abstracts and full texts. We are now working on extracting data and assessing the risk of bias. Our systematic review includes 170 studies. In the coming year, we plan to finish data extraction and risk assessment, analyze the data, grade the evidence, and share the results. If successful, this project could change how obesity is managed in asthma patients in both research and clinical practice.