The Association between Obesity and Severityof Asthma in Children

Abstract

Introduction: Asthma is the most common chronic airway disease in children, which is caused by genetic and environmental factors such as obesity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between obesity and asthma severity in children.

Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 200 asthmatic children aged 6 to 12 years in Yazd Shohadaye Kargar hospital in 2015 - 2016. The participants' demographic data were recorded. According to the Australian National Asthma Campaign, they were categorized into mild, moderate, and severe groups considering their severity of asthma. In order to compare the studied variables t, chi-square, and Mann-Whitney tests were used by SPSS ₁₈.

Results: The results showed that 11 (27.5%) obese children had severe asthma, but only 7 children (4.4%) with normal BMI had severe asthma (P <0.001). It was also found that the mean BMI in children with severe asthma was 21.68, in children with moderate asthma was 19.73, and in children with mild asthma was 18.27 (P <0.001). Other variables including age, birth weight, maternal age, socioeconomic status, and educational level did not have any significant effect on the severity of asthma (P> 0.05).

Conclusion: Our study showed that the prevalence of severe asthma was high in obese children and this relationship was stronger in boys. Therefore, obese children have a higher risk for severe asthma. To reduce obesity in children,  treatments such as regimen are required.