Differing associations of BMI and body fat with asthma and lung function in children.

Background: Current evidence suggests that in children there is a significant, albeit weak, association between asthma and obesity. Studies generally use body mass index (BMI) in evaluating body adiposity, but there are limitations to its use.

Method: Children from a population-based study attending follow-up (age 11 years) were weighed, measured and had percent body (PBF) and truncal (PTF) fat assessed using bioelectrical impedance.

Effect of addition of salmeterol versus doubling the dose of fluticasone propionate on specific airway resistance in children with asthma.

Based primarily on extrapolation from adult studies, current pediatric asthma guidelines advise the addition of long-acting beta₂-agonists for children symptomatic on low/moderate-dose inhaled corticosteroids before increasing the corticosteroid dose. This study was designed to compare the effect of combination salmeterol/fluticasone propionate (SFC) with doubling the dose of fluticasone propionate (FP) on specific airway resistance (sR(aw)) in moderate/severe persistent asthmatic children. A double-blind, randomized, controlled study was performed; children with asthma (4-11 years old; sR(aw) > 1.

Day-care attendance, position in sibship, and early childhood wheezing: a population-based birth cohort study.

Background: There are conflicting data on the effect of day-care attendance and position in sibship on the development of wheezing.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between day-care attendance and position in sibship with early childhood wheeze.

Methods: Prospective population-based birth cohort.

Exhaled breath condensate pH and childhood asthma: unselected birth cohort study.

Rationale: Exhaled breath condensate pH (EBC-pH) may be useful noninvasive marker for evaluation of patients with asthma.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between EBC-pH and symptoms suggestive of childhood asthma in an epidemiologic setting and examine its relation to lung function, airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), and airway inflammation.

Methods: Within the context of a prospective population-based birth cohort, EBC was collected from 630 children at age 8 yr using the RTube (pH measured after deaeration with argon).

Polymorphisms in a disintegrin and metalloprotease 33 (ADAM33) predict impaired early-life lung function.

Rationale: Asthma commonly originates in early life in association with impaired lung function, which tracks to adulthood.

Objectives: Within the context of a prospective birth cohort study, we investigated the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a disintegrin and metalloprotease 33 (ADAM33) gene and early-life lung function.

Methods: Children were genotyped for 17 SNPs in ADAM33.

Wheeze phenotypes and lung function in preschool children.

Distinct phenotypes can be identified in childhood wheezing illness. Within the context of a birth cohort study, we investigated the association between preschool lung function and phenotypes of wheeze. From parentally reported history of wheeze (interviewer-administered questionnaire, age 3 and 5 years), children were classified as never wheezers, transient early wheezers, late-onset wheezers, or persistent wheezers.

Lung function at age 3 years: effect of pet ownership and exposure to indoor allergens.

Objective: To investigate the effect of pet ownership and exposure to indoor allergens on lung function in 3-year-old children.

Design: Birth cohort study.

Setting: Community.

Early life environmental control: effect on symptoms, sensitization, and lung function at age 3 years.

We investigated whether environmental control during pregnancy and early life affects sensitization and lung function at the age of 3 years. High-risk children (n = 251) were prenatally randomized to stringent environmental control (active) or no intervention (control). Questionnaires, skin testing, IgE, and specific airway resistance (sRaw) measurement were completed at the age of 3 years.

Urinary eosinophilic protein X, atopy, and symptoms suggestive of allergic disease at 3 years of age.

Background: Urinary eosinophilic protein X (U-EPX) measurement is easy to perform in children. However, its use for prediction, diagnosis, and monitoring of asthma and atopy is unclear.

Objective: We sought to investigate the relationship between U-EPX and clinical phenotypes suggestive of allergic diseases.