In Europe, 1 in 8 people die from lung disease – that's about one person every minute. These diseases include asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In some rich countries, the incidence of obesity exceeds 30%. The extent and manner in which asthma may contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic are therefore important public health issues. This large meta-analysis presented in the European Respiratory Journal, of 13 European cohorts, conducted at the University of Southern California, confirms that asthma is indeed a major factor in vulnerability to obesity and other comorbidities. later in life.
Thus, young children with asthma are more likely to become obese, just as obesity can be considered a major precursor to asthma in children. While scientists have been documenting parallel epidemics of asthma and obesity in children for two decades, the majority of studies focus on how obesity is a risk factor for asthma. This review approaches the question the other way round by seeking to understand how asthma contributes to obesity in children.
It is then the widest analysis carried out to date on early asthma and obesity. 40 scientists collaborated on it. The study covers 21,130 children, born between 1990 and 2008, in 9 countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the Kingdom -United. The children were diagnosed with asthma when they were 3 to 4 years old, and the scientists followed these toddlers until they were 8 years old. Their goal was to focus on the health effects of early asthma.
The health effects of early asthma: analysis shows that:
- the risk of becoming obese is increased by 66% in children with asthma vs those without a diagnosis of asthma;
- in children with persistent symptoms of wheezing, the risk of obesity is increased by 50%;
- even active asthmatic children are almost 2 times more likely to develop obesity than those without asthma or wheezing.
Results consistent with those of previous longitudinal studies.
However, the causal direction between asthma and obesity remains poorly understood. Asthma is considered a barrier to physical activity which can lead to the accumulation of fat in the body. Higher doses of inhaled corticosteroids have also been linked to an increased risk of obesity in children with asthma. Since asthma and obesity begin to develop quite early in life, it is possible that the asthma-obesity association is also established during this crucial period of child development. Previous studies have shown that certain exposures in utero, via prenatal diet or maternal obesity, are also associated with an increased risk of these two conditions.
" We need to understand whether prevention and adequate treatment of asthma could help reduce the trajectory of obesity ," concluded one of the authors, Dr. Frank Gilliland, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine ( Los Angeles).
Asthma affects millions of children, it is a chronic childhood disorder, and if it increases the risk of obesity, we can advise parents and doctors on how to intervene early way.
