title: Physical deconditioning as a cause of breathlessness among obese adolescents with a diagnosis of asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obese children frequently complain of breathlessness. Asthma and obesity can both contribute to the symptoms during exercise, and this symptom can contribute to a diagnosis of asthma in these children. Despite the high prevalence of obesity few studies have investigated the cardiopulmonary physiology of breathlessness in obese children with a diagnosis of asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this case-control study, thirty adolescents between age 12 and 19 were studied with baseline spirometry and a cardiopulmonary exercise test. Ten adolescents were normal controls, ten had obesity without a diagnosis of asthma, and ten had obesity with a history of physician-diagnosed asthma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Baseline characteristics including complete blood count and spirometry were comparable between obese adolescents with and without a diagnosis of asthma. During exercise, obese asthmatic and obese non-asthmatic adolescents had significantly reduced physical fitness compared to healthy controls as evidenced by decreased peak oxygen uptake after adjusting for actual body weight (21.7 ± 4.5 vs. 21.4 ± 5.4 vs. 35.3 ± 5.8 ml/kg/min, respectively). However, pulmonary capacity at the peak of exercise was comparable among all three groups as evidenced by similar pulmonary reserve.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, breathlessness was primarily due to cardiopulmonary deconditioning in the majority of obese adolescents with or without a diagnosis of asthma.
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America.
authors: Yun M
authors: YM
authors: Shim
authors: Autumn
authors: A
authors: Burnette
authors: Sean
authors: S
authors: Lucas
authors: Richard C
authors: RC
authors: Herring
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Weltman
authors: James T
authors: JT
authors: Patrie
authors: Arthur L
authors: AL
authors: Weltman
authors: Thomas A
authors: TA
authors: Platts-Mills
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018493:Cardiovascular Deconditioning; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015444:Exercise; D045853:Exhalation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D007073:Immunoglobulin E
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