title: Untreated asthma, final height and sitting height/leg length ratio in Chile.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is uncertainty as to whether asthma has an effect on final height. We investigated using subjective and objective assessments whether untreated asthma is associated with final height, leg length and sitting height to leg length ratio in an area of Chile in which almost no one received asthma treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We collected data on 1232 males and females aged 22-28 years in a semi-rural area of Chile. Information on asthma was collected using the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) questionnaire. We assessed sensitisation to eight allergens and bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) to methacholine as a dichotomous variable and as a log slope. Information on possible confounders in terms of smoking, birth weight, number of siblings and socio-economic factors such as household possessions, car ownership and education was available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regardless of the asthma assessment used, there was no association between asthma symptoms, diagnosis of asthma, atopy, BHR as log slope, binary or categorical and height, leg length or the ratio of sitting height to leg length. The latter was used as a potentially more appropriate measure to assess a detriment of growth.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Asthma as assessed in community studies is unrelated to final height or body proportions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, King's College London, 5th Floor Capital House, 42 Weston St, London SE1 3QD, UK. Roberto.rona@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Roberto J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Rona
authors.forename: Nigel C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Smeeton
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bustos
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Amigo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens / Q000009:adverse effects; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001827:Body Height; D049628:Body Size / Q000502:physiology*; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000276:immunology; D016085:Bronchoconstrictor Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002677:Chile; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000503:physiopathology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016210:Methacholine Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012882:Skin Tests
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D016085:Bronchoconstrictor Agents; D016210:Methacholine Chloride