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Can the increase in body mass index explain the rising trend in asthma in children?

S Chinn1, R J Rona

  • 1Department of Public Health Sciences, King's College London, London SE1 3QD, UK. sue.chinn@kcl.ac.uk

Thorax
|October 20, 2001
PubMed

Insights

Rising childhood obesity does not explain the increasing prevalence of asthma. The link between asthma and obesity appears recent, possibly due to lifestyle changes affecting both conditions.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Respiratory Medicine

Background:

  • The rising prevalence of childhood asthma and obesity has led to hypotheses linking the two conditions.
  • Trends in asthma and obesity were examined in British children from 1982 to 1994.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether increasing obesity rates explain the rise in childhood asthma prevalence.
  • To analyze the association between body mass index (BMI) and asthma symptoms over time.

Main Methods:

  • Calculated odds ratios for asthma trends in 8- and 9-year-old children.
  • Adjusted for body mass index (BMI) to assess its impact on asthma prevalence.
  • Analyzed trends in wheeze and "asthma or bronchitis" as related outcomes.

Main Results:

  • Odds ratios for asthma per year remained consistent before and after BMI adjustment in both boys and girls.
  • Adjusted and unadjusted odds ratios for wheeze and "asthma or bronchitis" were nearly identical.
  • The lack of adjustment effect was attributed to temporal changes in the BMI-symptom association.

Conclusions:

  • Trends in overweight and obesity do not account for the increasing prevalence of asthma.
  • The association between asthma and obesity appears to be a recent phenomenon.
  • Obesity may serve as a marker for recent lifestyle shifts linked to both asthma and overweight conditions.
Abstract

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