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Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * 11(1): e355, 2019 

 

ISDS 2019 Conference Abstracts 

Pulmonary Function should be the Surveillance Tool in Obese 
Children to Prevent Asthma 

Yungling L. Lee 

Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 

Objective 

To investigate the important mediator linking from obesity to childhood asthma 

Introduction 

The mediating pathways in the obesity-asthma link are largely unknown. We aimed to investigate the mediating pathways and to 
search for the most prominent pathological mechanism between central obesity and childhood asthma. 

Methods 

In Taiwan Children Health Study, we collected data on an open cohort of children ranged from 9 to 13 years old. Children's 
respiratory outcomes, atopic conditions, obesity measures, and pulmonary function were surveyed annually between 2010 and 
2012. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide concentrations were recorded in 2012. Generalized estimating equations and general linear 
models were used to examine the associations among central obesity, possible mediators, and asthma. Structural equation model s 
were applied to investigate the pathways that mediate the link between central obesity and asthma. 

Results 

Central obesity (waist-to-hip ratio) most accurately predicted childhood asthma. In the model of active asthma, the percentage of 
mediation was 28.6% for pulmonary function, 18.1% for atopy, and 5.7% for airway inflammation.  The percentage of mediation 
for pulmonary function was 40.2% in the model of lifetime wheeze. Pulmonary function was responsible for the greatest percentage 
of mediation among the three mediators in both models. 

Conclusions 

Decline in pulmonary function is the most important pathway in central obesity–related asthma. Pulmonary function surveillance 
should be applied to obese children for asthma risk prediction. 

 

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