Annals of Thoracic Medicine · Published 2025-08-22 · DOI 10.4103/atm.atm_303_24
BACKGROUND: Existing evidence suggests that regular physical activity is associated with improved outcomes in asthma. However, the impact of exercise on TH2 inflammation in patients with mild and well-controlled asthma is not well understood. This study aimed to determine if a short bout of exercise, alters serum inflammatory cytokines in obese and nonobese patients with well-controlled asthma. METHODS: Participants were categorized into three groups: normal-weight asthma (NW-A), asthma with obesity (O-A), and a control group of obesity without asthma (O-Ctrl). Serum cytokines were measured before and at the peak of a cardiopulmonary exercise and tested using a cycle ergometer. RESULTS: A total of 43 participants were included: NW-A (n = 15), O-A (n = 12), and O-Ctrl (n = 16). At baseline, the O-A group exhibited elevated levels of interleukin-5 (IL-5), IL-6, and leptin compared to the other groups. The NW-A group had higher baseline levels of IL-13 compared to the O-A group, but tumor necrosis factor-α levels were not significantly different among the groups. At peak exercise, both the O-A and NW-A groups showed reductions in plasma concentrations of IL-5, IL-6, and leptin. The O-A group showed a statistically significant increase in IL-13 levels at maximum exercise intensity, while the NW-A group did not exhibit a significant change. CONCLUSION: A short bout of exercise modifies the inflammatory cytokine profile in all participants, with the most significant changes observed in the O-A group. Future studies on exercise training should include inflammatory cytokine measurements to validate these findings and further explore the unique inflammatory responses in obese asthmatic patients.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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