Healthy Living

Weight Gain May Prolong Protection From Worsening Symptoms Among Cystic Fibrosis Patients

The study

In order to prove their hypothesis, the researchers utilized information that had been collected in a different clinical study, giving them access to a wide variety of patients over the age of 18 who had been to two different cystic fibrosis centers in the United Kingdom.

The 59 patients they analyzed had been diagnosed with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is a chronic pulmonary infection. The patients were both examined and tracked for three years, between July 2009 and March 2012. The median time of treatment they assessed with antibiotics was two weeks, while the median gain in weight was approximately one kilogram.

98% of the patients suffered from deterioration, with their symptoms becoming more excruciating during their "follow-up" time. These pulmonary exacerbations are not unexpected.