NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In asthma patients,dynamic hyperinflation, following a test measure airwayhypersensitivity, is greater in obese individuals than in theirnonobese counterparts, which helps explain why asthma is perceivedto be more severe in patients with a higher body mass index (BMI),investigators in New Zealand report.

A BMI is the ratio between height and weight, and is used toclassify people as underweight, overweight or normal weight.

“The greater dynamic hyperinflation means that obese individualslose the ability to inhale as deeply or exhale as fully as normalweight individuals,” Dr. D. Robin Taylor explains in an AmericanThoracic Society statement.

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