Increasing body mass index from age 5 to 14 years associated with increased risk of asthma symptoms in adolescence
Asthma is a comorbidity of obesity, and adipose tissue was recently shown to secrete eotaxin, a chemokine involved in extrinsic asthma. Data was taken from 2911 participants of a birth cohort of 7223 mothers and children, in Brisbane (Australia), to investigate the prospective association between change in body mass index (BMI) z-score between ages 5 and 14 years and asthma symptoms at age 14. To this end, BMI was measured and asthma symptoms were assessed from maternal reports at age 5 and 14 years. There was a positive correlation between both BMI z-score at age 14 and the change in BMI z-score from age 5 to 14 years and asthma symptoms at age 14, but no correlation between BMI at age 5 and asthma symptoms at age 14. The association between change in body mass index and asthma symptoms at age 14 remained strong even after adjusting for a range of early-life exposures.




















