Obesity Not Linked with Asthma in Kids
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obesity
is not associated with asthma in children between 4 and 11 years of age,
findings from a Canadian Study suggest. The current results run counter to a
recent report that identified obesity as a risk factor for asthma, primarily in
boys, Dr. Yue Chen, from the University of Ottawa in Ontario, notes in a related
editorial. Given the discordant findings,
"further studies in pediatric populations with better measurements of
obesity are highly desirable," Chen notes. The present study, which is reported
in The Journal of Pediatrics, involved an analysis of data from a sample of
11,199 Canadian children. Asthma status, height, and weight were determined by
surveying the biological mother. Obesity was defined as a body mass index at or
above the 85th percentile. Overall, nearly 10 percent of
children had asthma, lead author Dr. Teresa To, from the Hospital for Sick
Children in Toronto, and colleagues report. Having a mother with asthma was a
risk factor for the disease in all children, whereas being an only child and
having a mother with depression were risk factors just for the girls, the
authors point out. Obesity, by contrast, was not
associated with asthma in either sex. The new findings do not support an
association between obesity and asthma in young children, the investigators
state. Additional follow-up of the current group will help determine
"whether obesity precedes the development of asthma in older
children." SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics,
February 2004. |