Child asthma, weight issues double

By KATHERINE HOBY

Preliminary results of a Hawkes Bay asthma trial show twice as many children are asthmatic or overweight as 11 years ago.

The research was carried out over two years with 1000 local children aged between 10 and 12, and has been compared with figures from a similar trial in 1989.

Dr David Barry, a Hawkes Bay paediatrician with an interest in respiratory disease, took part in the 1989 research and the recent study.

It shows the incidence of asthma has more than doubled since 1989, from 17 per cent to 37 per cent.

Dr Barry said the preliminary results had been given to the parents of children involved in the questionnaire-based research.

He suggested that one of the reasons for the rise was the increased awareness and reporting of asthma.

"That is definitely playing a part - nobody thinks that explains everything though," he said.

"From other studies asthma rates are certainly going up and so these results reflect a trend. Most people think there is a real increase and there is no one easy answer as to why."

Body mass index measurements were taken during both the 1989 and 2000 surveys. Dr Barry said there was a doubling in the number of children who were overweight, and a quadrupling in the number of those who were obese.

There was difficulty establishing a link between being overweight and asthmatic as obese people tended to have difficulty breathing.

"So, you have to ask when people are wheezing - is that real asthma or is that being overweight?"

He said an exercise test carried out by some of the children revealed that the number of children wheezing after exercise had decreased.

"That was unexpected."

Dr Barry said it was purely speculative to say why that figure had gone down, but he suspected that asthmatic children might now be taking more preventive medication.

The study showed almost 40 per cent of children have an allergy.

It was conducted in conjunction with the Wellington Asthma Research Group, and funded by the Health Research Council.

Professor Julian Crane, director of the Wellington Asthma Research Group, agreed that part of the reason for the rise in the prevalence of asthma symptoms was due to increased awareness about asthma.

Children had clearly put on weight and were generally heavier than a decade ago, Professor Crane said.

This was related to some of the wheezing symptoms the children reported.

Some of the difficulty with asthma research lay with the broad range of symptoms classified as asthma, and the lack of one diagnostic definition.

"If you define the figure rise solely as reported symptoms, it has doubled. But I think that's a little simplistic.

"Some people who get wheezy classify themselves as asthmatic. Everyone will be classified as having asthma if we go on at this rate."

The final results of the research are expected to be published in medical journals.

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