International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-7802032015060715351535EN20150607<strong>Background:</strong> Obesity is commonly regarded as a risk factor for asthma development, poor asthma control, and poor response to asthma therapy.<br /><strong>Methods: </strong>In a cross‑sectional study, 85 asthmatics (37 male and 48 female) participated. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and anthropometric parameters were measured for each patient.<br /><strong>Results:</strong> Mean age and median duration were 43.9 &plusmn; 10.61 and 6 (3&ndash;14) years, respectively. Among anthropometric parameters, only waist‑to‑hip ratio (WHR) indicated significant correlation with PFTs in both sex (P &lt; 0.05). There were negative associations between waist circumference, hip circumference and WHR with PFTs only in overweight and obese women (P &lt; 0.05).<br /><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Some anthropometric parameters affected lung function, and it seems that gender differentially contributes to this effect.<br /><strong>Keywords:</strong> Asthma, body mass index, obesityhttp://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/1535http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/1535/1820