Being overweight in childhood, puberty, or early adulthood: Changing asthma risk in the next generation?

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Johannessen, A; Lonnebotn, M; Calciano, L; Benediktsdottir, B; Bertelsen, RJ; Braback, L; Dharmage, S; Franklin, KA; Gislason, T; Holm, M; ...Date
2020-03-01Source Title
Journal of Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyPublisher
MOSBY-ELSEVIERAffiliation
Melbourne School of Population and Global HealthMetadata
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Johannessen, A., Lonnebotn, M., Calciano, L., Benediktsdottir, B., Bertelsen, R. J., Braback, L., Dharmage, S., Franklin, K. A., Gislason, T., Holm, M., Janson, C., Jarvis, D., Jogi, R., Kim, J. -L., Kirkeleit, J., Lodge, C., Malinovschi, A., Martinez-Moratalla, J., Nilsen, R. M. ,... Svanes, C. (2020). Being overweight in childhood, puberty, or early adulthood: Changing asthma risk in the next generation?. JOURNAL OF ALLERGY AND CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY, 145 (3), pp.791-+. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2019.08.030.Access Status
Open AccessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Overweight status and asthma have increased during the last decades. Being overweight is a known risk factor for asthma, but it is not known whether it might also increase asthma risk in the next generation. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine whether parents being overweight in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood is associated with asthma in their offspring. METHODS: We included 6347 adult offspring (age, 18-52 years) investigated in the Respiratory Health in Northern Europe, Spain and Australia (RHINESSA) multigeneration study of 2044 fathers and 2549 mothers (age, 37-66 years) investigated in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) study. Associations of parental overweight status at age 8 years, puberty, and age 30 years with offspring's childhood overweight status (potential mediator) and offspring's asthma with or without nasal allergies (outcomes) was analyzed by using 2-level logistic regression and 2-level multinomial logistic regression, respectively. Counterfactual-based mediation analysis was performed to establish whether observed associations were direct or indirect effects mediated through the offspring's own overweight status. RESULTS: We found statistically significant associations between both fathers' and mothers' childhood overweight status and offspring's childhood overweight status (odds ratio, 2.23 [95% CI, 1.45-3.42] and 2.45 [95% CI, 1.86-3.22], respectively). We also found a statistically significant effect of fathers' onset of being overweight in puberty on offspring's asthma without nasal allergies (relative risk ratio, 2.31 [95% CI, 1.23-4.33]). This effect was direct and not mediated through the offspring's own overweight status. No effect on offspring's asthma with nasal allergies was found. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that metabolic factors long before conception can increase asthma risk and that male puberty is a time window of particular importance for offspring's health.
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