Association between Asthma and Body Mass Index in Children

Obesity has been reported to be associated with an increase in asthma in children, ifthere is any association, it could be attributed to an effect of obesity on lung volume andthus airway's obstruction.data from 2413 children aged 7-12 years in isfahan were analyzed. the subjects wereincluded in this study if data were available for: height, weight, age, lung volume, andany measure of asthma, including history of diagnosed asthma, wheeze, chronic cough,and medication as obtained by questionnaire. body mass index (bmi) percentiles,divided into quintiles per year age, were used as a measure of standardized weight.after adjusting for, sex, age, smoking and family history, bmi was a significant riskfactor for wheeze ever (p = 0.000) and asthma ever (p = 0.000), diagnosed asthma(p=o.ooo) and current asthma (p = 0.000). there was no significant correlation betweenbmi and obstructive spirometry. increased bmi was significantly associated with anincreased airway resistance.despite the fact that higher bmi is a risk factor for, wheeze ever, wheeze and dyspneain the last 12 months, and diagnosed asthma, higher bmi is not a risk factor forobstructive pattern in pulmonary function test.