HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Burgess, J. A. Articles by Dharmage, S. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Burgess, J. A. Articles by Dharmage, S. C.

Childhood adiposity predicts adult-onset current asthma in females: a 25-yr prospective study

¹ Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, University of Melbourne, ³ Cancer Council of Victoria, ⁴ Dept of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, and ² Respiratory Research Group, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.

CORRESPONDENCE: J. A. Burgess, Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, University of Melbourne, Level 2, 723 Swanston Street, Carlton, VIC. 3053 Australia. Fax: 61 393495815. E-mail: j.burgess{at}pgrad.unimelb.edu.au

Keywords: Asthma, body mass index, childhood, lung function, menarche, sex

Received: June 20, 2006
Accepted December 21, 2006

Few data exist on associations between childhood adiposity and incident asthma in later life. The present authors examined the relationship between childhood body mass index (BMI) and incident asthma beginning in adolescence or in adult life.

All subjects included in the study were participants in the Tasmanian Asthma Survey, a large population-based cohort study, and were asthma free at 7 yrs of age. Weight, height and lung function were measured at 7 yrs of age. Asthma status at 7 and 32 yrs of age was ascertained by questionnaire. Odds ratios were calculated for the association between childhood adiposity, expressed as "overweight" or as BMI z-score quartiles at 7 yrs of age, and asthma development after that age.

In females, but not in males, there was a significant association between adiposity at 7 yrs of age and current asthma at 32 yrs of age that developed after the age of 21 yrs. The association was not explained by childhood lung function or age at menarche. There was no association between adiposity at 7 yrs of age and asthma that developed after that age and remitted at 32 yrs of age in either sex.

Higher body mass index in nonasthmatic young females at 7 yrs of age predicts risk of current asthma developing in adult life.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Bush Update in Pediatric Lung Disease 2007 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., April 1, 2008; 177(7): 686 - 695. [Full Text] [PDF]