Body build from birth to adulthood and risk of asthma.
BACKGROUND
Few reports aimed at the study of adulthood obesity and asthma have taken into account the effects of size at birth and obesity in adolescence. This paper examines the combined effect of size at birth and obesity in both adolescence and adulthood on the risk of asthma at age 31 years.


METHODS
The study was derived from a prospectively population-based Finnish birth cohort born in 1966, for which data were collected in pregnancy and at various ages. Adulthood doctor-diagnosed asthma with current symptoms and results of skin prick tests were obtained in 1997. The analysis was limited to 4719 subjects with complete information on asthma and atopy and anthropometric measures at various ages.


RESULTS
Ponderal index at birth had a U-shaped association with adult atopy, OR 1.30 (95% CI: 1.11-1.52) for the lowest tertile and OR 1.33 (95% CI: 1.13-1.55) for the highest tertile, as compared to the middle tertile. The association was independent of obesity later in life. Those obese (BMI > or = 95th percentile) in adolescence (OR 2.09, 95% CI: 1.23-3.57) and in adulthood (OR 1.99, 95% CI: 1.14-3.47) had a higher occurrence of adult asthma than those with BMI < 85th percentile. Both estimates were reduced after mutual adjustment.


CONCLUSIONS
Size at birth has a long-lasting effect on atopy in adulthood, which is independent of weight in adolescence and adulthood. Those who were obese in adolescence and adulthood tended to have a higher risk of asthma in adulthood. These findings underline the importance of considering the life course of obesity in the analyses of asthma and atopy.
Xu
Baizhuang
B
Unit of Environmental Epidemiology, National Public Health Institute, Kuopio, Finland. Baizhuang.xu@kiinahuamei.fi
Pekkanen
Juha
J
Laitinen
Jaana
J
Järvelin
Marjo-Riitta
MR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001724:Birth Weight; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors