Associations between asthma, overweight and physical activity in children: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 919 - 8
• Main Authors: Willeboordse, Maartje, van de Kant, Kim D. G., van der Velden, Charlotte A., van Schayck, Constant P., Dompeling, Edward
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 01.09.2016; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Active transport; Activity; Airway management; Asthma; Asthma - physiopathology; Asthma - psychology; Biostatistics; Body Mass Index; Body size; Body weight; Child; Children; Children & youth; Cross-Sectional Studies; Energy balance-related behaviors; Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Exercise; Exercise - physiology; Exercise - psychology; Female; Genotype & phenotype; Health aspects; Hospitals; Humans; Hypotheses; Influence; Lungs; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Obesity; Observations; Overweight; Overweight - physiopathology; Overweight - psychology; Pediatrics; Phenotypes; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Physiological aspects; Public Health; Questionnaires; Research Article; Respiratory function; Screen time; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vaccine; Netherlands; Germany; Body mass index; Pediatrics; Activity; Exercise; Overweight
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3600-1

Background Asthma and obesity are highly prevalent in children, and are interrelated resulting in a difficult-to-treat asthma-obesity phenotype. The exact underlying mechanisms of this phenotype remain unclear, but decreased physical activity (PA) could be an important lifestyle factor. We hypothesize that both asthma and overweight/obesity decrease PA levels and interact on PA levels in asthmatic children with overweight/obesity. Methods School-aged children ( n  = 122) were divided in 4 groups (healthy control, asthma, overweight/obesity and asthma, and overweight/obesity). Children were asked to perform lung function tests and wear an activity monitor for 7 days. PA was determined by: step count, active time, screen time, time spent in organized sports and active transport forms. We used multiple linear regression techniques to investigate whether asthma, body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS), or the interaction term asthma x BMI-SDS were associated with PA. Additionally, we tested if asthma features (including lung function and medication) were related to PA levels in asthmatic children. Results Asthma, BMI-SDS and the interaction between asthma x BMI-SDS were not related to any of the PA variables ( p  ≥ 0.05). None of the asthma features could predict PA levels ( p  ≥ 0.05). Less than 1 in 5 children reached the recommended daily step count guidelines of 12,000 steps/day. Conclusion We found no significant associations between asthma, overweight and PA levels in school-aged children in this study. However, as PA levels were worryingly low, effective PA promotion in school-aged children is necessary.