Allergy Asthma Respir Dis.  2021 Oct;9(4):231-237. 10.4168/aard.2021.9.4.231.

Effect of overweight or obesity on lung function and asthma severity in prepubertal asthmatic children

• Jung DB
• Jeong JE
• Chung HL
• Jang YY

• KMID: 2521773
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aard.2021.9.4.231

Abstract

Purpose
Cluster analysis on pediatric asthma identifying a cluster characterized by obesity, females, and puberty showed that obesity is an independent risk factor for severe asthma in this cluster. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of overweight/obesity on lung function and asthma severity in prepubertal asthmatic children.
Methods
One hundred fifty-five prepubertal children (aged 6–10) with asthma were enrolled and divided into 2 groups: the overweight/obese group (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 85th percentile, n = 44) and the normal BMI group ( < 85th percentile, n = 111). We reviewed their medical records and analyzed whether there were any differences in clinical features, lung function and degree of bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) between the 2 groups. The clinical factors associated with asthma severity were also investigated.
Results
There was no difference in clinical features between the 2 groups. Pulmonary function tests showed that only forced vital capacity in 1 second/forced vital capacity (FEV₁/FVC) was significantly lower in the overweight/obese group than in the normal BMI group (P = 0.032). There was no difference in dysanapsis and BHR between the 2 groups. There were significantly more children with moderate-to-severe asthma in the overweight/obese group compared to the normal BMI group (P = 0.018). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, overweight/obesity has been identified as an independent risk factor of affecting asthma severity (odds ratio, 2.44; P = 0.018), in addition to the already known risk factor, FEV₁.
Conclusion
Our study showed that overweight/obese prepubertal asthmatic children had lower FEV₁/FVC than those with normal BMI. It also suggests that overweight/obesity may be an independent risk factor for severe asthma before puberty.

Keyword

Child; Asthma; Overweight; Obesity