Metabolic Imbalance Linked With Asthma in Children

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Metabolic Imbalance Linked With Asthma in Children

Regardless of BMI, those with asthma more likely to have imbalanced metabolism

Publish date: Sep 20, 2010

MONDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Children with an imbalanced metabolism,

which could be due to diet and/or exercise deficiencies, may be at an increased

risk for developing asthma regardless of their body mass index (BMI), according

to research published online Sept. 17 in the American Journal of Respiratory and

Critical Care Medicine.

Lesley Cottrell, Ph.D., of the West Virginia University School of Medicine in

town, and colleagues analyzed demographic data, BMI, fasting serum lipid

profiles, and evidence of insulin resistance in 17,994 4- to 12-year-olds in

mostly rural West Virginia to study the relationship between BMI and asthma and

test the hypothesis that derangement in lipid and glucose metabolism is an

independent risk factor for asthma.

After controlling for gender differences and exposure to smoke, the researchers

found that children with asthma were more likely than their non-asthmatic peers

to have higher triglyceride levels and acanthosis nigricans, a marker of insulin

resistance development, regardless of BMI.

" This study provides the first set of community-based data linking asthma, body

mass and metabolic variables in children. In particular, these findings uniquely

describe a statistically significant association between asthma and abnormal

lipid and glucose metabolism beyond BMI associations, " the authors write.

Abstract

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