Association of higher adiposity and wheezing in infants with lower respiratory illnesses.
OBJECTIVE
The incidences of asthma and obesity have been steadily increasing over the past two decades, with several studies showing a relationship between these conditions. We investigated the influence of higher weight for height (WFH) Z-score on wheezing in infants with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI).


METHODS
We reviewed the medical charts of all infants younger than l year of age who were admitted with the first episode of LRTI between 2000 and 2008. Subjects were classified into six groups according to WFH Z-score.


RESULTS
Wheezing was more frequent in infants with higher WFH Z-scores. Especially, wheezing infants aged 3-6 months and 6-9 months had significantly higher WFH Z-scores than had their non-wheezing counterparts (p = 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively). Multivariate logistic regression showed that age (OR = 0.76, p < 0.001), male gender (OR = 1.61, p = 0.005) and WFH Z-score (OR = 1.12, p = 0.007) were independently associated with wheezing.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study we could show that a higher WFH Z-score was independently associated with wheezing in infancy. Attainment of appropriate weight for age may reduce the risk of wheezing in infants with respiratory diseases.
Jee
Hye Mi
HM
Department of Pediatrics, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.
Seo
Hyun Kyong
HK
Hyun
Se Eun
SE
Yoo
Eun Gyong
EG
Kim
Cheol Hong
CH
Han
Man Yong
MY
D050154:Adiposity; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012135:Respiratory Sounds / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015430:Weight Gain