Atopic disease and body mass index

Obesity and atopy are two increasingly important population health issues. Excess weight and obesity are potential risk factors for atopy (specifically asthma).

To determine the body mass index (BMI) in children with atopic disease compared with nonatopic children, and to determine whether obesity is associated to more severe disease. Children aged 5 to 16 years with diagnosed atopic disease that attended the Ambulatory Hospital Center where eligible as cases. Children aged 5 to 16 years without atopic disease from a school in the same geographic area were used as controls.

A total of 228 children where included in the analysis: 112 children with atopy (75.9% asthma, 21.4% rhinitis and 2.7% eczema) and 116 children without atopy. The median age was 10.5 and 10.3 years for the atopic and non-atopic children, respectively. The prevalence of overweight or obese subjects was significantly greater in the atopic group (44.6% vs 31.9%, p 0.05). The obese asthmatic children had a significantly higher prevalence of sleep disturbances due to wheezing in the last 12 months (45.5% vs 15.9%, p 0.05). They also reported dry cough at night more often (50% vs 28.6%, p = 0.07), and a higher number of wheezing attacks in the past 12 months (72.7% vs 50.8%, p = 0.074), than the non-obese asthmatic children. Most of the obese atopic children were already overweight or obese at the time of the diagnosis (66.6%). None of the associations were significantly different for boys or girls.

There is some evidence of an association between excess body weight or obesity and atopy--particularly asthma.