title: A new childhood asthma phenotype: obese with early menarche.
abstract: Three concomitant phenomena occur in the later years of childhood: increases in the incidence of asthma, obesity and early menarche. This article is an overview of the current epidemiologic, basic, genetic and epigenetic evidence about this relationship. As a consequence we propose that obese girls who have an early menarche (≤ 11 years of age) constitute a new asthma phenotype in childhood. Future studies need to be carried out in order to find the best control and treatment of this new asthma phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Paediatrics and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: jacastro17@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castro-Rodriguez
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008572:Menarche; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D010641:Phenotype; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Asthma phenotype; Childhood; Early menarche; Epidemiology; Genetics; Obesity