Asthmatic Symptoms, Physical Activity, and Overweight in Young Children: A Cohort Study

Abstract

The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE. Prevalence of asthma and overweight has increased simultaneously during the past decades. Several studies have reported an association between these two health problems, but it is unclear whether this relation is causal. We hypothesize that children with asthmatic symptoms are less physically active, which may contribute to the development of overweight.PATIENTS AND METHODS. The study included children from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study who were invited at 4 to 5 years of age to wear an Actigraph accelerometer for 5 days (n ϭ 305; 152 boys). Information on wheezing was gathered by repeated questionnaires completed by parents at child ages 7 months and 1, 2, and 4 to 5 years. Questionnaires on physical activity were completed at child age 4 to 5 years, and height, weight, and abdominal circumference were measured. Accelerometer data were expressed as mean counts per minute, minutes per day performing vigorous activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during Ն1 minute. RESULTS.Children who had wheezed in the last 12 months showed very similar activity levels compared with children who had never wheezed. By contrast, boys who had wheezed at least once but not in the last 12 months were more physically active than boys who had never wheezed (geometric mean: 694 vs 625 cpm; adjusted geometric mean ratio: 1.11). This was not found for girls. Similar results were found in parent-reported physical activity data. No association was found between wheezing at any age and overweight at the age of 4 to 5 years.CONCLUSIONS. These results do not support our hypothesis and previous studies that showed that wheezing children are less physically active. Our data provide no evidence that asthmatic symptoms induce a lower physical activity level and more overweight. Additional research could concentrate on the effect of physical activity and overweight on the development of asthmatic symptoms.

Prospective Study of Physical Activity and Risk of Asthma Exacerbations in Older Women

“…The association between physical activity and respiratory symptoms in patients with asthma has been examined in several cross-sectional studies (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Those including adult subjects yielded an association between higher physical activity level and lower asthma symptoms (3, 4), as we found.…”

“…Those including adult subjects yielded an association between higher physical activity level and lower asthma symptoms (3, 4), as we found. The studies with null results were conducted in children (6)(7)(8), and/or used less reliable measures of asthma (defined as wheezing) (7) or physical activity (defined from single questions about TV watching [6] or sports playing [8]), suggesting that differences in subjects' age or study design may be responsible for the seemingly discrepant results. The possibility that sex plays any role in these inconsistent results is difficult to ascertain: whereas one of the previously mentioned studies yielded similar associations between physical activity and asthma symptoms in men and women (3), the other found statistically significant associations only in men (4).…”

“…However, the potential role of physical activity in preventing asthma exacerbations is not known. Only a few cross-sectional studies are available, some of which have reported an association between higher levels of regular physical activity and a lower prevalence of asthma symptoms (3,4), whereas other have not reproduced this association (5)(6)(7)(8). These controversial results could be attributed to differences in characteristics of the previous studies or to the inherent difficulty in ascertaining with crosssectional data whether physical inactivity increases asthma symptoms or whether patients with asthma avoid the practice of physical activity.…”

Meta-analysis of the IL-10 promoter polymorphisms and pediatric asthma susceptibility

“…Pediatric asthma is one of the most common diseases affecting children worldwide (Eijkemans et al, 2008). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 235 million people suffered from asthma worldwide, with 157,000 requiring urgent medical aid, during 2007 (Bilal et al, 2016).…”

Avaliação do nível de atividade física diária e fatores preditivos em crianças asmáticas da cidade de São Paulo

“…Em crianças asmáticas, podemos encontrar alguns estudos que para mensurar a atividade física utilizam testes de aptidão física (máximo e submáximo), aplicação de questionários e colocação de monitor de atividade física (Nystad, 1997;Lang et al, 2004;Firrincieli et al, 2005;Glazebook et al, 2006;Van Gent et al, 2007;Eijkemans et al, 2008;Berntsen et al, 2009;Rundle et al, 2009;Pedersen, 2009;Cheng et al, 2010;Vahlkvist et al, 2010;Villa et al, 2011).…”