Impact of Obesity on Allergic Diseases, Including Asthma, Across Age and Sex: A Review

Abstract Recent evidences point out about the existence of a strong association between obesity and various allergic diseases of varied manifestations, irrespective of age and sex. With the intent to present an overview of the recent evidence regarding obesity and allergic diseases, this narrative review was conducted. Two databases, PubMed and Google scholar were searched for the available studies using the standard MeSH words. English language articles in the past 10 years were looked at, while the snowballing technique was used to look at references and find relevant studies. Results indicate a strong association between obesity and conditions such as asthma, atopic dermatitis, food allergy and urticaria, as well as reduced lung capacity. Obesity-related inflammation, particularly involving the gut microbiome, may be a contributing factor. The authors conclude that weight reduction and maintaining a healthy waist-to-hip ratio may alleviate allergy symptoms and improve treatment success rates. Further research is needed to more thoroughly explore this linkage.