Obesity Contributing Risk Factor For Childhood Asthma In Hispanics

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inhalerFrom Your Health Journal…..”I wanted to promote an article here from the Huffington Post, as I feel it may help some families. The article was written by Hope Gillette entitled Obesity Contributing Risk Factor For Childhood Asthma In Hispanics. We have discussed here many times how obesity is affecting the lives of many young children. Obesity related illness is growing in children such as heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, weak joints, and asthma. Many of these children get bullied in school as well as having low self esteem. According to today’s article, more than 3 million Hispanics in the United States live with asthma. Hispanics are also 30% more likely to visit the hospital for asthma compared to non-Hispanic whites. Much of the high childhood asthma rates reported for Hispanics in the United States has been attributed to pollution, as they tend to live in some of the most heavily polluted, urban areas of the country. While pollution does have a significant impact on childhood asthma, new research found that excessive weight may also adversely affect lung function in both Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks. This is a very important finding. Please support the author, Hope Gillette by reading this article on the Huffington Post site (link provided below). I hope it helps some of you.”

From the article…..

More than 3 million Hispanics in the United States live with asthma, according to the most recent data from The Office of Minority Health (OMH). Hispanics are also 30 percent more likely to visit the hospital for asthma compared to non-Hispanic whites. Hispanic children are 40 percent more likely to die from asthma compared to non-Hispanic white children.

Much of the high childhood asthma rates reported for Hispanics in the U.S. has been attributed to pollution, as they tend to live in some of the most heavily polluted, urban areas of the country.

While pollution does indeed have a significant impact on childhood asthma, new research published in the Journal of Asthma found that excessive weight may also adversely affect lung function in both Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks.

“While it has been well documented that Hispanics and African-Americans – particularly those who live in urban settings – have a higher prevalence of asthma and obesity, there is less understanding of the lung function in overweight asthmatic minority children,” said Deepa Rastogi, senior author and attending physician at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, and assistant professor of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, in a press release. “What we have learned from this study is that even small increases in weight can negatively impact lung function.”

Researchers feel ethnic differences have much to do with the findings, as both Hispanic and non-Hispanic black children tend to have more upper body fat deposits. Previous studies have found “waist circumference inversely correlates with pulmonary function and directly correlates with asthma severity,” thus, the genetic predisposition to carry fat higher on the body is likely what increases the risk of childhood asthma for Hispanics.

To read the full article…..Click here