Association between obesity and asthma in US children and adolescents.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND: To explore the association between obesity and asthma in US children and adolescents with adjustment of other structural and behavioral factors. METHOD: Prevalence and associated risk factors of asthma were explored in 102,273 children and adolescents in the National Survey of Children's Health (2003-2004). Subgroup analysis was performed for subjects of 0-6 year-old, 7-12 year-old, and 13-17 year-old. Crude and adjusted odds ratios for the potential risk factors were examined in univariate and multivariate logistic regressions. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of obesity was 24.5% and that of asthma was 12.5%. The adjusted odds ratio of asthma with obesity remains significantly bigger than 1 for children in the 7-12 and the 13-17 year-old age-groups. Gender and race were significantly associated with asthma in all age groups. The two parent family structure showed significant protectiveness against asthma with children in the 0-6 year-old age group. Poverty was positively associated with asthma in the 7-12 years old age group. Having a smoker in the household increased the odds of asthma by 29% and 23.5% in the 0-6 and 13-17 year-old age-groups, respectively. Higher education level of the parents and access to healthcare showed positive association with asthma in the 13-17 year-old age group. CONCLUSION: Gender and race were significantly associated with asthma. In the 13-17 year-old age-groups, obesity, household education level, healthcare coverage, and household smoking were positively associated with asthma. Further studies should characterize how the family structure and household education level influence childhood asthma in 0-6 and 13-17 year-old age-groups respectively.

Author information

Author/s: Ahmad, Naveed (N); Biswas, Swati (S); Bae, Sejong (S); Meador, Karen E S (KE); Huang, Rong (R); Singh, Karan P (KP);

Affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma (J Asthma), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 46 (issue 7) : pp 642-6

Dates: Created 2009/09/03; Completed 2009/09/28;

PMID: 19728197, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 9/28/2009)

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