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Early childhood weight status in relation to asthma development in high-risk children

Zhumin Zhang1, Huichuan J Lai, Kathy A Roberg

  • 1Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Madison, WI 53706-1562, USA. zhuminzhang@wisc.edu

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
|November 6, 2010
PubMed

Insights

In high-risk children, being overweight at age 1 year may decrease asthma risk. However, being overweight after infancy does not protect against childhood asthma and may increase risk.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
  • Respiratory Medicine
  • Childhood Obesity Research

Background:

  • Childhood asthma is a significant health concern.
  • Obesity is a suspected risk factor for pediatric asthma development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between weight status from birth to age 5 and asthma occurrence at ages 6 and 8.
  • To explore the complex relationship between early-life weight and later asthma development in high-risk children.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 285 high-risk newborns (at least one asthmatic/atopic parent) from birth to age 8.
  • Overweight defined by weight-for-length >85th percentile before age 2 and BMI >85th percentile at ages 2-5.
  • Asthma occurrence and lung function assessed at ages 6 and 8.

Main Results:

  • No concurrent association between overweight and asthma at any given year.
  • Overweight at age 1 year correlated with decreased asthma risk at ages 6 and 8 (OR 0.32-0.35) and better lung function.
  • Overweight beyond infancy showed no protective effect; overweight at age 5 but not age 1 increased asthma risk at age 6 (OR 5.78).

Conclusions:

  • In genetically high-risk children, being overweight at age 1 year is linked to reduced asthma risk and improved lung function later.
  • The protective effect of early-life overweight on asthma is not sustained beyond infancy.
  • Later-onset overweight (age 5) may increase the risk of developing childhood asthma.
Abstract

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