{"references": ["1. Black M H, Smith N, Porter A H, Jacobsen S J, Koebnick C. Higher Prevalence of Obesity Among Children WithAsthma. Obesity.2012;20,1041\u201347", "2. Mishra V. Effect of obesity on asthma among adult . Indian women. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004 ;28(8):1048-58", "3. Von Ruesten A, Steffen A, Floegel A, Van der A DL, Masala G. Trend in Obesity Prevalence in European Adult Cohort Populations during Follow-up since 1996 and Their Predictions to 2015. PLoS ONE 2011; 6(11):e27455, 1-9", "4. Beuther, D.A. and Sutherland, E.R. Overweight, obesity, and incident asthma: a meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2007; 175: 661\u20136.", "5. Shaheen SO. Obesity and asthma: cause for concern? Clin ExpAllergy 1999; 29:291\u2013293.", "6. Melo LC, Silva1 AM, Calles AC. Obesity and lung function: a systematic review einstein. Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2014;12(1):120-5", "7. Mafort TT, Ru#no R, Costa CH, Lopes AJ. Obesity: systemic and pulmonary complications, biochemical abnormalities, and impairment of lung function. Multidiscip Respir Med. 2016;11:28.", "8. Baruwa P, Kripesh Ranjan Sarmah K R. Obesity and asthma. Lung India. 2013; 30(1): 38\u201346.", "9. Schachter LM, Salome CM, Peat JK, Woolcock AJ. Obesity is a risk for asthma and wheeze but not airway hyperresponsiveness. Thorax. 2001;56(1):4-8.", "10. Novosad S, Khan S, Wolfe B, KhanA. Role of Obesity in Asthma Control, the Obesity-Asthma Phenotype. J Allergy.2013:1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/ 538642", "11. Baf# CW, Winnica DE, Holguin F. Asthma and obesity: mechanisms and clinical Implications. Asthma Research and Practice (2015) 1:1", "12. Eneli IU, Skybo T, Camargo CA. Jr. Weight loss and asthma: a systematic. Thorax. 2008;63(8):671-6.", "13. Misra A, Vikram NK, Gupta R, Pandey RM, Wasir JS, Gupta VP. Waist circumference cut off points and action levels for Asian Indians for identi#cation of abdominal obesity. Int J Obes. 2006;30:106-11.", "14. Vikram NK, Pandey RM, MisraA, Sharma R, Devi JR, Khanna N. Nonobese (body mass index >25 kg/m2) Asian Indians with normal waist circumference have high cardiovascular risk. Nutrition. 2003;19:503-9.", "15. Snehalatha C, Viswanathan V, Ramachandran A. Cut off values for normal anthropometric variables in Asian Indian adults. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:1380-4", "17. Saint-Pierre P, Bourdin A, Chanez P, et al. Are overweight asthmatics more dif#cult to control? Allergy. 2006;61:79\u201384.", "18. Varraso R, Siroux V, Maccario J, et al. Asthma severity is associated with body mass index and early menarche i n w o m e n . A m J R e s p i r C r i t C a r e M e d . 2005;171:334\u20139.", "19. Taylor B, Mannino D, Brown C, Crocker D, TwumBaah N, Holguin F. Body mass index and asthma severity in the National Asthma Survey. Thorax. 2008; 63(1):14-20.", "20. Pelegrino NR, Faganello MM, Sanchez FF, Padovani CR, Godoy I. Relationship between body mass index and asthma severity in adults. J Bras Pneumol. 2007;33(6):641-6.", "21. Lavoie KL, Bacon SL, Labrecque M, Cartier A, Ditto B. Higher BMI is associated with worse asthma control and quality of life but not asthma severity. Respir Med. 2006;100(4):648-57.", "22. Akerman MJH, Calacanis CM, Madsen MK. Relationship between asthma severity and obesity. J Asthma. 2004;41:521\u20136..", "23. Forte GC, Grutcki DM, Menegotto SM, Pereiraa RP, Paulo de T, Dalcin R. Prevalence of obesity in asthma and its relations with asthma severity and control. Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2013;59(6):594\u20139", "24. Camargo CA Jr, Weiss ST, Zhang S, Willett WC, Speizer FE. Prospective study of body mass index, weight change, and risk of adult onset asthma in women.Arch Intern Med. 1999;159:2582-8."]}

Asthma and obesity are main public health problems. The association between severity of asthma and obesity remains controversial and is limited to small studies. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of BMI on asthma severity. All patients of age 18 years and above, attending the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, People's Hospital (a tertiary Care Hospital of People's College of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Bhopal) with symptoms or diagnosis of asthma were included in the study. Patients were selected prospectively over a period of 1 year and 6 months and were classified according to BMI (Body Mass Index) and asthma severity. Seventy five patients were included in the study and there were 37(49.3%) female patients. Mean age was 36.8 years. Patients were grouped according to Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) staging in which 26.7% patients were classified with intermittent asthma, 24% mild persistent asthma, 33.3% moderate persistent asthma and 16% with severe persistent asthma. In our study obesity (BMI) and asthma severity (GINAstaging) showed statistically significant positive correlation (p-value<0.05). It is inferred that obesity is a potentially preventable factor for asthma control.