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In our sample of inner-city children with asthma, obese children used more medicine, wheezed more, and a greater proportion had unscheduled ED visits than the nonobese children.

Asthma and obesity are both chronic conditions and their prevalences have risen in affluent societies. A positive association between asthma and being overweight or obese has been reported in children and women, but associations in men are less clearly described. The objective of this study was to explore the association between body mass index (BMI) and asthma in men and women of diverse ethnic and socioeconomic background living in New York State, USA. In this study, we analyzed cross-sectional data on 5524 subjects aged 18 years and older who were interviewed by telephone in the 1996 and 1997 New York State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Asthma (doctor-diagnosed), and weight and height were self-reported. BMI (kg/m2) was used as a measure of adiposity. Weighted logistic regression analysis, with stratification by gender and age, was used to examine the relationship between asthma prevalence and BMI, adjusting for race/ethnicity, education, health insurance, time since last physical examination, physical activity and smoking status. The results showed that the prevalence of asthma was 4.6% (CI: 3.6-5.5%) among men and 8.1% (CI: 7.1-9.1%) among women. In women, the prevalence of asthma was significantly increased in those with a BMI 25 kg/m2 or higher (BMI 25-27.5: OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.06-2.94; BMI 27.5-29.9: OR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.41-4.25; BMI > or = 30: OR = 2.67, 95% CI: 1.66-4.29) when compared to the reference category (BMI: 22-24.9 kg/m2). In men, the prevalence of asthma was increased in the lowest weight category, BMI < 22 kg/m2 (OR = 3.05, 95% CI: 1.37-6.78) and in the highest category, BMI > or = 30 kg/m2 (OR = 2.92, 95% CI: 1.39-6.14). This U-shaped association persisted when restricting the analysis to men who had never smoked and was more pronounced for those between 18 and 49 years of age. In conclusion, this cross-sectional study showed that men and women differ significantly in the association between BMI and asthma prevalence only with respect to the lowest weight category. While women had a monotonic association, men showed a U-shaped relationship, indicating that both extremes of weight are associated with a higher prevalence of asthma.

Objective-Many children with human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) have chronic problems with growth and nutrition, yet limited information is available to identify infected children at high risk for growth abnormalities. Using data from the prospective, multicenter P 2 C 2 HIV study, we evaluated the relationships between maternal and infant clinical and laboratory factors and impaired growth in this cohort.Methods-Children of HIV-1-infected women were enrolled prenatally or within the first 28 days of life. Failure to thrive (FTT) was defined as an age-and sex-adjusted weight z score ≤−2.0 SD. Maternal baseline covariates included age, race, illicit drug use, zidovudine use, CD4 + T-cell count, and smoking. Infant baseline predictors included sex, race, CD4 + T-cell count, Centers for Disease Control stage, HIV-1 RNA, antiretroviral therapy, pneumonia, heart rate, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus infection status.Results-The study cohort included 92 HIV-1-infected and 439 uninfected children. Infected children had a lower mean gestational age, but birth weights, lengths, and head circumferences in the 2 groups were similar. Mothers of growth-delayed infants were more likely to have smoked Copyright © 2001 by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Reprint requests to (T.L.M.) Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Box 667, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642. tracie_miller@urmc.rochester.edu. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD The institutions and investigators participating in this study are listed in the "Appendix." HHS Public Access Author manuscriptPediatrics. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 April 03. Published in final edited form as:Pediatrics. 2001 December ; 108(6): 1287-1296. Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript tobacco and used illicit drugs during pregnancy. In repeated-measures analyses of weight and length or height z scores, the means of the HIV-1-infected group were significantly lower at 6 months of age (P < .001) and remained lower throughout the first 5 years of life. Conclusion-Clinical and laboratory factors associated with FTT among HIV-1-infected children include history of pneumonia, maternal illicit drug use during pregnancy, lower infant CD4 + T-cell count, exposure to antiretroviral therapy by 3 months of age (non-protease inhibitor), and HIV-1 RNA viral load. Keywordshuman immunodeficiency virus; children; failure to thrive; growth; malnutrition Many children with human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection have chronic problems with linear growth and weight gain. 1-5 A variety of disturbed growth patterns have been described, ranging from symmetric delays in weight and length or height to severe wasting with normal length or height. The differences in growth patterns probably result from differences in disease manifestations in HIV-1-infected children. In developed countries, both weight and length or height decline in infected children as early as...

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