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Association of overweight with asthma symptoms in Japanese school children

Yoshie Okabe1, Toshiko Itazawa, Yuichi Adachi

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.

Pediatrics International : Official Journal of the Japan Pediatric Society
|July 15, 2010
PubMed

Insights

This nationwide Japanese study found that overweight children are more likely to have current asthma. Overweight status also independently predicted nocturnal cough in older children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
  • Public Health
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Most research on obesity and asthma is from Western countries.
  • This study addresses a gap by surveying Japanese children.
  • It focuses on the association between overweight and asthma in a large, diverse pediatric population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between overweight and current asthma in Japanese children.
  • To examine overweight as a risk factor for nocturnal cough in different age groups.
  • To provide nationwide data on pediatric obesity and respiratory health in Japan.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional, nationwide survey using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire.
  • Involved Japanese children aged 6-7, 13-14, and 16-17 years.
  • Overweight defined as Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥ 90th percentile for Japanese children (1978-1981).

Main Results:

  • A total of 139,117 children were analyzed with an 83.4% response rate.
  • Overweight was significantly associated with current asthma across all age groups (adjusted ORs ranging from 1.24 to 1.32).
  • Overweight was an independent risk factor for nocturnal cough in older children (adjusted ORs 1.21 and 1.17).

Conclusions:

  • A clear association exists between overweight and current asthma in Japanese school-aged children.
  • Overweight is a significant risk factor for asthma and nocturnal cough in this population.
  • The mechanisms linking obesity to nocturnal cough may differ from those of obesity-associated asthma.
Abstract

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