Triple asthma whammy for girls

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Triple asthma whammy for

girlsMarch 28, 2007 04:00am

OVERWEIGHT girls have triple the risk of developing asthma as adults,

and Australian specialists believe female sex hormones might be at

fault.

In a world first, University of Melbourne researchers have found a

link between childhood obesity and adult-onset asthma in women.

The study of 1500 people analysed the body mass index (BMI) of girls when

they were seven years old and measured it against their lung function 25

years later.

The results showed that non-asthmatic girls in the top 25 per cent for

BMI were over three times more likely to develop the respiratory

condition later when compared to similar girls in the lowest 25 BMI

range.

The increased risk remained the same after taking into account other

factors such as childhood allergies, the degree of lung development at

the age of seven and smoking later in life.

Previous research has linked genetics, weight, exposure to allergies and

other environmental factors to asthma risk.

This study published today in the European Respiratory Journal is

the first to shed more light on the obesity link.

" It shows that the known increased risk of asthma in obese women

could have actually started when they were children, " said

researcher Burgess, from the school of population health.

" It adds to a growing body of evidence detailing the harmful

long-term effects of excess weight in childhood. "

Dr Burgess said as childhood obesity data from this study was taken

almost 40 years ago, there would now be many more children at risk of

developing adult on-set asthma.

" The prevalence and extent of obesity among young girls has grown

significantly since 1968, " he said.

" This means that there are now many more young girls who are

overweight and could be a high risk of developing asthma in future. "

The same disease link was not found in boys, making the researchers

suspicious that female-specific hormones could be to blame for the

connection.

Estrogen is essential for normal female sexual development, but the

hormone is also known to affect the immune system and the lungs.

" Heavier girls tend to reach puberty earlier than girls of normal

weight, " Dr Burgess said.

" It's postulated then that the effects of exposure to estrogens at a

younger age possibly `programs' the lungs to develop asthma later on, but

that purely a hypothesis at this stage. "