The Relationship between Asthma and Overweight in Urban Minority Children. METHODS

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This study gathered information on weight, height, BMI and the spirometry findings of children enrolled in public seventh-to-12th grades in one secondary school in Flint, MI, from March 1, 2004, to May 31, 2004. The school is located 2 miles from a highway and had 483 students enrolled for the above academic year. Children with recent upper or lower respiratory diseases, chest or skeletal deformities, and immunodeficiency were excluded from the study. Informed consent was obtained from parents. An assent was obtained when appropriate. The institutional review board of Hurley Medical Center approved the study.

The questionnaires used in this study to elicit symptoms of asthma. Children were instructed to respond “yes” to each question if symptoms had occurred at least once in the last year. The questionnaire was developed specifically for this study by the investigators and research team. All children were measured and weighed in a private area to maintain confidentiality. Height was measured with the child barefoot and erect against a wall-mounted scale (Accustat-Stadiometer; Genentech, San Francisco, CA) and recorded to the last 0.5 cm. Children were weighed in underpants, and the weight was recorded (Health-O-Meter; Continental Scale Corp, Chicago, IL) to the last complete 100 g. BMI was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by squared height in meters. Weight status was defined by using age- and gender-specific BMI percentiles from the 2000 revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Health Statistics growth charts for the United States. Overweight was defined as a BMI >85th percentile for age and sex.
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