Latest Issue of Journal of Urban Health Shows a Connection between Body Weight and Asthma Rates among Children 2-11 Years of Age

NEW YORK CITY, June 8???Overweight boys and girls as young as two years old living in Central Harlem are twice as likely to suffer from asthma as compared to children of normal weights, suggesting that aggressive interventions to prevent excessive weight gain in the early years could help reduce the costly effects of asthma-related morbidity among young children. These findings are presented in a new study in the latest issue of the Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of The New York Academy of Medicine.

Past research has shown that children living in Harlem are already twice as likely as other New York City children to have asthma. This means that overweight children of both genders in this New York City neighborhood face an even more serious health disadvantage. Recognizing that the number of overweight children is rapidly increasing across the country, and especially in urban areas, the authors recommend interventions to prevent excessive weight gain be implemented at an early age.

???Our findings among young children point to the influence of early life factors in the development of asthma and body weight and the importance of intervening in the pre-school and elementary school years to reduce asthma- and obesity-related morbidity in children and adults,??? said co-lead-author Helen Kwon, PhD, MPH, a Kellogg Scholar in Health Disparities at Columbia University.

Researchers examined data from 853 Black and Hispanic children between the ages of 2 and 11 who live within a 60-block radius in Central Harlem and had been screened between 2002 and 2004 by the Harlem Children???s Zone Asthma Initiative, a community-based initiative working to address the high rates of asthma among local children. The study was among the first ever to look at the full range of body weights for children in the context of asthma occurrence, and produced another important finding: that underweight boys are three times as likely to have asthma as regular weight boys. Underweight girls showed no increased asthma risk. The authors believe the gender difference may reflect smaller airways and lung size in underweight boys who are susceptible to asthma, but state that more research is needed.

In terms of the connection between asthma and overweight, it remains unclear which condition typically arises first. The authors said longitudinal studies are needed to answer this causation question. Overweight children may be exposed to more allergens since they tend to spend more time indoors, thus increasing their asthma risk; while asthmatic children may be less active to avoid flare-ups, gaining weight as a result.

The Harlem Children???s Zone Asthma Initiative is in the process of implementing an intervention for asthmatic, overweight children (or those at risk of becoming overweight) enrolled in the program. The intervention will include physical activity and nutrition sessions, and an asthma educational intervention.

The study was completed by Kwon, co-lead-author Benjamin Ortiz, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Columbia University/Harlem Hospital Center, and colleagues at Harlem Hospital, Columbia University, the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Harlem Children???s Zone Asthma Initiative.

The Journal of Urban Health is a bi-monthly publication of the Academy and is edited by David Vlahov, PhD, and director of the Academy???s Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies. Founded in 1847, The New York Academy of Medicine is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit institution whose mission is to enhance the health of the public. The Academy is a leading center for urban health policy and action working to enhance the health of people living in cities worldwide through research, education, advocacy, and prevention. Visit us online at www.nyam.org.

Posted on June 8, 2006

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