Being overweight increases susceptibility to indoor pollutants among urban children with asthma

This study from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Baltimore, Md) included 148 children (age, 5-17 years) with persistent asthma that were followed for 1 year. Participants were predominantly African American (91%) and had public health insurance (85%), 16% were overweight, and 28% were obese.

Overweight or obese participants had more symptoms associated with exposure to fine particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM(2.5)) than normal-weight participants. They also had more asthma symptoms associated with nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) exposure.

However, there was no relationship with coarse particulate matter (2.5 and 10 μm) and health care use, lung function, or pulmonary inflammation.

Being overweight or obese can increase susceptibility to indoor PM(2.5) and NO(2) in urban children with asthma.

Interventions aimed at weight loss might reduce asthma symptom responses to PM(2.5) and NO(2). Reducing indoor pollutant levels might be beneficial in overweight children. However, the effect of these measures on lung function is not clear from this study.

References:

Being overweight increases susceptibility to indoor pollutants among urban children with asthma. Lu KD, Breysse PN, Diette GB, Curtin-Brosnan J, Aloe C, Williams DL, Peng RD, McCormack MC, Matsui EC. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Feb 9. pii: S0091-6749(13)00006-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2012.12.1570. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23403052
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