The association of asthma with BMI and menarche in the 1958 British Birth Cohort

Abstract

Background: Obesity and early menarche have been associated with asthma. In this report, we assess the association of asthma with BMI and with changes in BMI from childhood to early adulthood. In addition, we determine if, in girls, any observed association of asthma with menarche can be explained by BMI. Methods: In a large national birth cohort, the associations of asthma at age 7, 11, 16 and 33 years with BMI, and of, asthma at age 33 years with changes in BMI from age 7 to age 33 years was assessed using logistic and mixed effects models as appropriate. Associations of asthma with age of menarche in girls were similarly assessed with and without adjustment for BMI. Results: Information on asthma, BMI, onset of menarche and confounders at all assessments was available for 1968 girls and 2223 boys. Obesity was relatively uncommon (<2%) in childhood. Overweight (BMI 25+) girls had more asthma. Girls with early menarche were more likely to be overweight. At age 11 years, asthma was associated with early menarche (OR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.17–2.47, after adjustment for BMI OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.10–2.34). Across all ages, asthma was significantly associated with BMI (OR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.18–1.90) but not with early menarche (OR = 1.24, 95% CI 0.95–1.63). Conclusion: Asthma is more common in overweight girls. Early menarche is more common in overweight girls but this does not explain its association with asthma at age 11 years. Early menarche is not a risk factor for asthma at age 33 years in this cohort.

• 1958 British Birth Cohort
• asthma
• body mass index
• menarche
• wheezing

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the original creators, sponsors, depositors and distributors of the NCDS data. Sweeps 0–3, 1958–1974 were created by the National Birthday Trust Fund and the National Children’s Bureau, and sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council, the National Birthday Trust Fund, the Institute of Child Health (University College London), the National Foundation for Educational Research and the Department of Health. Sweep 4, 1981 and Public Examination Results, 1978 were created by the National Children’s Bureau, and sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Security, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Employment, the Department of the Environment and the Manpower Services Commission. Sweep 5, 1991 was created by the Social Statistics Research Unit, City University, and sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department of Health, the Department of Social Security, the Department of Employment, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of the Environment, the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, the Health and Safety Executive and the National Institute for Child Health and Development, USA. The principal investigator (depositor and copyright holder) for all three Data Collections is the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London. The Data Collections (2nd edition, 2008) were distributed by the UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester. The original data creators, depositors or copyright holders, the funders of the Data Collections and the UK Data Archive bear no responsibility for their further analysis or interpretation.