Sex specificity of asthma associated with objectively measured body mass index and waist circumference: the Humboldt study.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the possibility of sex specificity for the association of obesity and asthma using objective measures of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC).


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of adults (n = 2,057) living in Humboldt, SK, Canada in 2003.


METHODS
A rural community.


METHODS
Ever-asthma was defined as lifetime physician-diagnosed asthma, and recent asthma was defined as asthma diagnosed by a physician during the past 12 months. BMI and WC were objectively measured.


RESULTS
Among the participants, 5.6% of men and 10.0% of women reported having ever-asthma, and 2.7% and 6.0% had recent asthma, respectively. Higher levels of both BMI and WC were significantly associated with asthma in women but not in men. The adjusted odds ratios for women with a BMI of at least 30.0 kg/m2 relative to women with a BMI of < 25.0 kg/m2 were 2.06 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.42 to 4.05) for ever-asthma and 3.47 (95% CI, 1.64 to 7.32) for recent asthma.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study demonstrated that the increased risk of asthma associated with obesity was only significant in women but not in men even when BMI was objectively measured, and this association was robust to the anthropometric measures.
Chen
Yue
Y
Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1H 8M5. ychen@uottawa.ca
Rennie
Donna
D
Cormier
Yvon
Y
Dosman
James
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012525:Saskatchewan / Q000453:epidemiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking