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Jennifer Gennuso, MD; Leonard H. Epstein, PhD; Rocco A. Paluch, MA; Frank Cerny, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152:1197-1200.

Objective  To investigate the relationship between asthma and obesity in children and adolescents.

Design  Medical record review.

Setting  Urban community health center.

Participants  One hundred seventy-one children aged 4 to 16 years, 85 with asthma and 86 nonasthmatic controls.

Main Outcome Measures  Diagnosis of asthma, age, and sex-adjusted body mass index (weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters).

Results  Seventy-eight percent of the sample was Hispanic, 17% was African American, 2% were white, and 3% were other minorities. There were significantly more children with asthma (30.6%) who were very obese (95th body mass index percentile) compared with controls (11.6%) (P=.004). Children with asthma were also significantly more overweight than controls (mean±SD, 22.5% ± 28.3% vs 12.0% ± 19.6% overweight; P=.004). The difference in obesity between children with asthma and controls was significant for both sexes and across the 4.5 to 10.9 years and 11 to 16 years age groups. Asthma severity was not related to obesity.

Conclusion  Asthma is a risk factor for obesity in children and adolescents.

From the Departments of Pediatrics (Dr Gennuso), Psychology (Dr Epstein and Mr Paluch), and Physical Therapy, Exercise, and Nutritional Sciences (Dr Cerny), State University of New York at Buffalo.

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