healthmatters
Childhood Asthma and Obesity: What Should You Know?
by Robin Tipkin
Pharmacist West Towne Pharmacy
A
sthma is a chronic disease that causes airways to become inflamed. Does your child have this disease? If so, you're no doubt familiar with symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing. Today, a who-pping nine million children under age 18 have asthma or have had it in the past.1 But with rates of childhood obesity climbing faster than a tenyear-old scrambling up a tree, this number could quickly skyrocket. Why? Children who are overweight or obese are more likely to have asthma than children of a healthy weight. The strength of this link varies by race and ethnicity. It hurts Hispanic children the most.2 Extra weight isn't considered a cause of asthma, simply a contributor. So what accounts for the connection between the two? One theory is that a hormone found in fat tissue increases the body's chronic inflammation. And this may increase the risk of asthma. 3,4 Overweight or obese children have double the risk of asthma as their normal-weight peers if they become or remain heavy in their early school years. Parents, listen up! Here's the good news: If children slim down by age seven, they may wipe out that increased risk. It's not quite as easy as erasing a string of num-
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bers from a blackboard. But it's way more powerful. That's especially true given that childhood obesity is not only linked to asthma, but to a whole host of other health problems, including diabetes and high cholesterol.4 Extra weight also sends kids with asthma to the doctor and emergency room more often and requires higher doses of asthma medications.2 In fact, a recent small study found that