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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Association between obesity and asthma in Japanese preschool children
Yoshie Okabe1, Yuichi Adachi, Toshiko Itazawa
1Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
Insights
Childhood obesity is linked to asthma in preschoolers. This study found overweight young children have a higher prevalence of current asthma, highlighting the need for physicians to consider weight management in pediatric asthma care.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
- Public Health and Epidemiology
- Childhood Obesity Research
Background:
- Previous research indicated a link between obesity and asthma in Japanese school-aged children.
- The association between obesity and asthma in younger children remained to be elucidated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between overweight/obesity and current asthma in preschool-aged children (4-5 years).
- To determine if gender influences the relationship between obesity and asthma in this age group.
Main Methods:
- A nationwide cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted.
- Data from 34,699 children aged 4-5 years were analyzed.
- Current asthma was defined by physician diagnosis and recent wheezing; overweight/underweight were based on BMI percentiles for Japanese children.
Main Results:
- Overweight children showed a significantly higher prevalence of current asthma (13.2%) compared to underweight (10.5%) and normal weight (11.1%) children (p < 0.001).
- The association between overweight and current asthma persisted after adjusting for covariates like gender and parental asthma history (adjusted OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.10-1.38).
- No significant gender effect was observed in the obesity-asthma association.
Conclusions:
- Obesity is associated with an increased risk of current asthma even in preschool-aged children.
- Physicians should consider the impact of excess weight when diagnosing and managing asthma in young children.
- Early intervention strategies addressing childhood obesity may be beneficial for asthma prevention and management.
Abstract:
Obesity may increase the risk of subsequent asthma. We have previously reported that there is a clear association between obesity and asthma in Japanese school-aged children. To evaluate whether a similar association exists in younger children, a nationwide cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was performed focusing on children aged 4-5 yr. A child who had experienced wheezing during the past 12 months and had ever been diagnosed with asthma by a physician was defined as having current asthma. Overweight and underweight were defined as BMI ≥90th percentile and ≤10th percentile, respectively, according to the reference values for Japanese children from 1978 to 1981. After excluding 2547 children because of incomplete data, 34,699 children were analyzed. Current asthma was significantly more prevalent in overweight children compared with underweight and normal weight children (13.2% for overweight vs. 10.5% for underweight and 11.1% for normal weight; both p < 0.001). Even after adjusting for other variables, such as gender, other coexisting allergic diseases, and parental history of asthma, there was an association between overweight and current asthma (adjusted odds ratio: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.10-1.38, p < 0.001). Even in preschool children, obesity is already associated with asthma, and there was no gender effect on this association. Physicians should consider the impact of obesity when managing asthma in younger children.
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