Asian Journal of Epidemiology1992-14622077-205XAsian Network for Scientific Information10.3923/aje.2009.33.43MathewA.C. ShaijinS. DavidR. RamalingamS. SrikanthK. YunshengMa. 2200922The aim is to study the association between obesity
and asthma among adults by gender. The prevalences of both asthma and
obesity have increased substantially in recent decades, leading to speculation
that obese individuals might be at risk of asthma. However, the evidence
of a relationship between obesity and asthma is not fully conclusive among
adults. Hence we investigate the association between obesity and asthma
among men and women using both measured weight and height and self-reported
weight and height while controlling for the effects of the demographic
and environmental factors. This case-control study involves a total of
159 adults; 53 cases and 106 controls enrolled in the month of July 2009
at PSG Hospitals. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated based on measured
weight and height. The Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval for
obese individuals was estimated using logistic regression analysis with
SPSS 11.5 for windows software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois). Multivariate
logistic regression model was used to adjust all risk estimates for covariates.
Obese women were found to have 9.14 times the risk of asthma than non
obese women (95% confidence interval (CI):1.38, 35.68) after adjusting
for covariates, such as age, education, environmental tobacco smoke and
pet keeping. No significant association was observed among men although
the direction of association is positive; adjusted odds ratio was 1.06
(95% CI: 0.12, 9.70). No significant association was observed between
self-reported prevalence of obesity and asthma; among women, adjusted
odds ratio = 4.33 (95% CI: 0.69, 27.37); and among men, adjusted odds
ratio = 0.89 (95% CI: 0.11, 7.12). The study indicates a strong positive
association between obesity and asthma among adult Indian women. The causal
links between obesity and asthma by gender need to be further examined
using prospective cohort studies.]]>Beckett, W.S., D.R. Jacobs, X. Yu, C. Iribarren and O.D. Williams, 200116420452050Bharathi, A.V., O.D. Sandhya and M. Vaz, 200011195102Bolton-Smith, C., M. Woodward, H. Tunstall-Pedoe and C. Morrison, 200054143148Brenner, J.S., C.S. Kelly, A.D. Wenger, S.M. Brich and A.L. Morrow, 200138509515Camargo, Jr. C.A., S.T. Weiss, S. Zhang, W.C. Willet and F.E. Speizer,199915925822588Camargo, C.A., C.C. Wentowski, A.E. Field, M.W. Gillman, A.L. Frazier and A.L. Colditz, 200313565565Celedon, J.C., L.J. Palmer, A.A. Litonjua, S.T. Weiss, B. Wang, B. Fang and X. Xu, 200116418351840Chen, Y., R. Dales, D. Krewski and K. Breithaupt, 1999150255262Chen, Y., R. Dales, M. Tang and D. Krewski, 2002155191197Chinn, S. and R.J. Rona,200156845850Del-Rio-Navarro, B.E., G. Fanghanel, A. Berber, L. Sanchez-Reyes, E. Estrada-Reyes and J.J. Sienra-Monge, 200313118123Deslypre, J.P., 1995442427Deurenberg-Yap, M., S.K. Chew and P. Deurenberg, 20023209215Dodge, R.R. and B. Burrows, 1990122567575Epstein, L.H., Y.W. Wu, R.A. Paluch, F.J. Cerny and J.P. Dorn, 20008575581Ford, E.S., 2005115897909Ford, E.S., D.M. Mannino, S.C. Redd, A.H. Mokdad and J.A. Mott, 200424740744Foster, P.S., R.G. Goldie and J.W. Peterson, 198378441445Gibson, G.J., 200055S41S44Gilliland, F.D., K. Berhane, T. Islam, R. McConnell and W.J. Gauderman et al., 2003158406415Guerra, S., D.L. Sherrill, A. Bobadilla, F.D. Martinez and R.A. Barbee, 200212212561263Hakala, K., B. Stenius-Aarniala and A. Sovijarvi, 200011813151321Huovinen, E., J. Kaprio and M. Koskenvuo, 200397273280Jackson, A.S., P.R. Stanforth, J. Gagnon, T. Rankinen and A.S. Leon et al., 200226789796Jang, A.S., M.H. Son, I.S. Choi and Y.I. Koh, 200217479482Jaakkola, J.J., N. Jaakkola, R. Piipari and M.S. Jaakkola, 2002109784788Juniper, E.F., R.S. Kline, F.E. Hargreave, R.S. Robert and E.E. Ddniel, 198713510391042Kumar, P., 1993686061Litonjua, A.A., D. Sparrow, J.C. Celedon, D. DeMolles and S.T. Weiss, 200257581585Mathew, A.C., T.B. Soubhya, A. Jose, S.L.R. Shankar and M.A. Yunsheng,2008123747McDonald, C.F. and J.G.W. Burdon, 1996165485488Mishra, V., 20042810481058National Institutes of Health, Heart, Lung and Blood, 20022002Niedhammer, I., I. Bugel, S. Bonenfant, M. Goldberg and M. Leclere,20002411111118Nystad, W., H.E. Meyer, P. Nafstad, A. Tverdal and A. Engeland, 2004160969976Peat, J.K., 1996915451555Santillan, A.A. and C.A. Camargo, 20032714301433Sekar, S.V., A.C. Mathew, V.C. Thomas, R. Meera and S. Krishnamoorthy,200591525Shaheen, S.O., 199929291293Shaheen, S.O., J.A. Sterne, S.M. Montgomery and H. Azima, 199954396402Sin, D.D., R.L. Jones and S.F. Man, 200216214771481Snijder, M.B., R.M. van Dam, M. Visser and J.C. Seidell,2006358392Spicer, L.J. and C.C. Francisco, 199713833743379Stenius-Aarniala, B., T. Poussa, J. Kvarnstrom, E.L. Gronlund, M. Ylikahri and P. Mustajoki,2000320827832Thomas, G., A.C. Mathew, S.L. Ravi-Shankar and M.A. Yunsheng, 200711100114Troisi, R.J., F.E. Seizer, W.C. Willett, D. Trichopoulos and B. Rosner, 199515211831188Von Mutius, E., J. Schwartz, L.M. Neas, D. Dockery and S.T. Weiss, 200156835838Wheeldon, N.M., D.M. Newnham, W.J. Coutie, J.A. Peters, D.G. McDevitt and B.J. Lipwprth, 199437583588World Health Organization, 19981998Xu, B., J. Pekkanen, J. Laitinen and M.R. Jarvelin, 200212166170