Sapporo Medical Journal

Abstract : ABSTRACT The prevalence of both asthma and obesity is increasing, and studies have found a correlation between these conditions. Obesity is also related to poor asthma control (Pradeepan et al., 2013). Objective: The main study objective was to identify the impact of BMI on the frequency of ER visits and length of hospitalization among asthmatic patients aged 14 or less in Makkah from 2018 to 2022. Method: This was a retrospective cross-sectional quantitative study using data collected from the hospital system. Results: This study found no significant correlation between BMI and asthma control (p = 0.935), compared to previous studies. Additionally, the correlation between BMI and frequency of hospitalization and ER visit results was not statistically significant. Finally, this study found an association between male gender and BMI as the p-value found by a Pearson Chi-squared test was less than the level of statistical significance (p < 0.05). Obesity is more prevalent in boys than in girls, and boys are also more likely to suffer from asthma. Conclusion: Asthma is a major public health disease that affects the quality of life, and one of the most important factors affecting the disease is obesity but obesity does not affect the severity of asthma as our study showed