Association Between Body Mass Index and Severity of Bronchial Asthma in Children

Abstract

Background
Bronchial asthma is a common chronic airway disease observed in children. This study was done to find the association of body mass index with bronchial asthma severity.
Methods
An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at College of Medical Sciences-Teaching over a period of 1 years. This study evaluated 120 asthmatic children aged 5-15 years. All data obtained were entered to an Excel worksheet and were analyzed using SPSS software, version 16.0. Categorical variables were analyzed using Chi-square tests. ANOVA was used to study the mean BMI with the different categories of severity of asthma.
Results
Out of 120 patients, 67 (55.8%) were males and 53 (44.1%) were females. Among males, 10 (14.9%) had mild intermittent, 32 (47.7%) mild persistent, 22 (32.8%) moderate persistent, and 3 (4.4%) severe persistent asthma. Among females, 2 (3.7%) had mild intermittent, 24 (45.2%) mild persistent, 27 (50.9%) moderate persistent asthma(none severe).Overall , 102 (85%) were underweight, 18 (15%) normal weight; none were overweight/obese. Among underweight children, 11 (10.7%) had mild intermittent , 52 (50.9%) mild persistent , 36 (35.2%)moderate persistent while 3 (2.9%) had severe persistent asthma. Normal BMI children presented with: 1 (5.5%) mild intermittent, 4 (22.2%) mild persistent, 13 (72.2%) moderate persistent. Mean Body Mass Index in children with mild intermittent asthma, mild persistent asthma, moderate persistent asthma and severe asthma were 15.1 (SD 2.2), 14.8 (SD 2.8), 13.3 (SD 3.3) and 12.4 (SD 0.1) respectively and the relation was statistically significant (p=0.038).
Conclusions
The severity of bronchial asthma has a significant relation with the Body Mass Index, with the severity increasing as the index decreases.