title: Is obesity related to worse control in children with asthma?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asthma and obesity are related diseases however the influence of obesity on asthma severity is not clear yet. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the association between obesity and asthma control evaluated on the basis of symptoms and asthma control questionnaire (ACQ).
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 98 children with asthma aged 4 to 14 years consecutively and recorded their disease characteristics and severity parameters as well as the symptom scores. All children filled in the ACQ. Children were classified as obese and non-obese according to body mass index. Obesity was defined as body mass index over 90th percentile.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age of the children in the obese group (n= 27) was 8.1 ± 2.6 while that in the non-obese group (n= 71) was 8.6 ± 2.9 (p= 0.41). Asthma symptom score in obese and non-obese groups were not significantly different (p= 0.73). Children in the obese group had lower ACQ scores when compared to the non-obese group (1.2 ± 0.9 vs 1.7 ± 1.0, p= 0.04) however this significance was lost when controlled for age and gender in the regression model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study suggest that obesity is not significantly associated with worse asthma control when adjusted for age and gender.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Allergy and Pulmonology, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey. hyukselefe@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ozge
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Ayhan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Söğüt
authors.forename: Arda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bozgül
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Türkeli
authors.forename: Sebnem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kader
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yüksel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology