Association between dietary habits and asthma severity in children

• Published in: Indian pediatrics Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 25 - 30
• Main Authors: Silveira, Denise Halpern, Zhang, Linjie, Prietsch, Silvio O. M., Vecchi, Amilcare Angelo, Susin, Lulie Rosane Odeh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Springer India 2015
• Subjects: Asthma - epidemiology; Asthma - physiopathology; Brazil - epidemiology; Child; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Feeding Behavior; Female; Humans; Male; Maternal and Child Health; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Obesity; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Research Paper; Risk Factors; Brazil; Asthama; Diet; Epidemiology; Risk factors
• ISSN: 0019-6061; 0974-7559
• DOI: 10.1007/s13312-015-0561-x

Objective To investigate association between dietary habits and asthma severity in children. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Two teaching hospitals in Brazil. Participants Cases ( n =268) were children (3–12yr) with persistent asthma and age-matched controls ( n =126) were those with intermittent asthma. Main outcome measures Dietary habits were determined based on food consumption in the past 12 months classified as frequent (≥3 times per week) or infrequent (never or <3 times per week).Nutritional status was classified into two categories according to WHO Child Growth Standards: obese: >2Z-score of BMI-for-age; non-obese: ≤2Z-score of BMI-for-age. Results After adjusting for confounding factors, maternal smoking during pregnancy, preterm birth and obesity were significantly associated with persistent asthma, with adjusted ORs (95% CI) of 2.11 (1.08–4.13), 2.61(1.07–6.35) and 2.89 (1.49–5.61), respectively. No significant association was observed between frequency of consumption of specific foods, food groups, or dietary pattern (pro- or contra-Mediterranean diet) and the severity of asthma. Conclusions This study did not find a significant association between dietary habits and asthma severity in children. Maternal smoking during pregnancy, preterm birth and obesity were independent factors associated with persistent asthma.