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This article is part of MPR‘s coverage of the American Thoracic Society’s International Conference, taking place in San Diego, California. Our staff will report on medical research related to asthma and other respiratory conditions, conducted by experts in the field. Check back regularly for more news from ATS 2018. |
SAN DIEGO — Overweight or obese children are more likely to develop new onset asthma compared with normal weight controls, according to research presented at the American Thoracic Society 2018 International Conference held May 17-22 in San Diego, California.
Researchers used data from the PEDSnet clinical research network, consisting of 6 pediatric academic medical centers in the United States. Data were collected from 2009 to 2015 and were analyzed using a retrospective cohort design.
In total, 507,496 children age 2 to 17 without asthma at baseline, including 19.58 million outpatient, inpatient, and emergency department encounters were included in the study.
Each patient with overweight or obesity was randomly matched 1:1 to a normal weight patient based on age at initial visit, sex, race, ethnicity, and insurance status. Researchers compared incident asthma rates in patients with obesity or who were overweight with the matched normal weight controls.
Over mean observation periods of 4, 4, and 3.9 years in overweight, obese, and normal weight controls, respectively, researchers identified a prevalence of new asthma diagnosis of 8.5%, 9.7%, and 7.4%, respectively, in each group (P<.001 for all).
Crude rate ratios in overweight or obese patients were 1.18 (95% CI, 1.05-1.31) and 1.35 (95% CI, 1.21-1.50; P=.004 and P<.0001, respectively), respectively.
“Children with obesity experience a 35% increased risk of new asthma diagnosis,” the researchers concluded. “Future PEDSnet analysis involving pairing of spirometry, comorbidity, and medication data will provide new epidemiologic insights into the relationship between obesity and asthma in children.”
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Reference
Lang J, Hossain M, Wysocki T, Bunnell T. Effect of obesity on incident childhood asthma: results from the national PEDSnet clinical data research network. Presented at: American Thoracic Society 2018 International Conference; May 18-23, 2018; San Diego, CA. Abstract A4599/311
This article originally appeared on Pulmonology Advisor
