Recent medical studies have suggested that there is a possible link between rates of asthma diagnosis and swelling of collective waistlines in recent decades.

According to a new study, people who are obese or overweight are likely to benefit more with the prescription pill sold as Singulair than with a type of inhaled steroid. On the other hand, leaner people may find it better with an inhaled steroid known as beclomethasone (brand names such as beclovent, vanceril).

From News-Medical.Net:

“Our study looks back at material from previous trials. I’d like to see a prospective study in which lean patients and heavy patients are enrolled at the outset, and you compare both types of medications in both groups,” Peters-Golden says. If verified by other studies, this insight may help physicians to better tailor medication regimens to meet individual patient needs.

Peters-Golden also notes that much research about asthma and other conditions is exploring the possibility that genetic factors might explain individual variations in responses to medications. He says it is likely that a variety of factors, including genetic ones and acquired factors such as weight, combine in a complex and intertwined manner to influence a person’s reaction to medications.

Lead author Marc Peters-Golden, M.D., professor of internal medicine and director of the Fellowship Program in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, said that there is no evidence to the myth that obesity influences response of the human body to specific asthma medications.