Overweight children face higher risk of asthma: study

CHILDREN who are overweight or obese during early childhood have a greater risk of having asthma at age eight than normal-weight kids, a new study finds.

Researchers in Sweden followed more than 2,000 children for eight years, using preschool and school health records to track their height and weight at ages one year, 18 months, four years and seven years. Parents completed questionnaires about their child's health, including asthma and allergy status.

Children who had persistently high BMI (body mass index) in the 85th percentile or above throughout early childhood, or who were normal-weight toddlers but gained weight and had a high BMI at age seven, were more likely to have asthma than kids who had a normal body weight.

However, kids who had a high BMI at an early age at 18 months or four years but slimmed down by age seven were not at higher risk of asthma than other kids.

"If the children are only overweight during the early period before four years of age we do not see an increased risk of asthma during school age," said lead study author Jessica Magnusson, a PhD student at the Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm.

"However, if they are persistently overweight, or overweight at a later age age seven then there is an association with asthma at age eight."

Asthma, characterised by inflammation of the airways, may cause wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and trouble breathing.

The study is in the January issue of Pediatrics.

At age eight, about six per cent of the kids in the study had asthma. Those overweight at age four and age seven had a nearly 2.5 times greater risk of having asthma.

Researchers excluded kids who'd had early symptoms of wheezing or had been diagnosed with asthma prior to age two.

Researchers also took into account parental history of asthma. A high BMI was associated with an increased risk of asthma only in kids without parental history of the disease, according to the study.

Researchers pointed out that their study does not show that being overweight or obese causes asthma.

"What this study argues for is prevention," she said.

"The kids who were heavier and got leaner didn't have the increased incidence of asthma, while those who were lean and got heavier or were heavy from the beginning did ... Obesity is not a cosmetic problem. It has real health consequences."

Agencies