Asthma, body mass and aerobic fitness, the relationship in adolescents: The exercise for asthma with commando Joe’s® (X4ACJ) trial

ABSTRACT

Although an association has been suggested between asthma, obesity, fitness and physical activity, the relationship between these parameters remains to be elucidated in adolescents. Six-hundred and sixteen adolescents were recruited (334 boys; 13.0 ± 1.1years; 1.57 ± 0.10m; 52.6 ± 12.9kg), of which 155 suffered from mild-to-moderate asthma (78 boys). Participants completed a 20-metre shuttle run test, lung function and 7-day objective physical activity measurements and completed asthma control and quality of life questionnaires. Furthermore, 69 adolescents (36 asthma; 21 boys) completed an incremental ramp cycle ergometer test. Although participants with asthma completed significantly fewer shuttle runs than their peers, peak V̇O₂ did not differ between the groups. However, adolescents with asthma engaged in less physical activity (53.9 ± 23.5 vs 60.5 ± 23.6minutes) and had higher BMI (22.2 ± 4.8 vs 20.4 ± 3.7kg·m-2), than their peers. Whilst a significant relationship was found between quality of life and cardiorespiratory fitness according to peak V̇O₂, only BMI was revealed as a significant predictor of asthma status. The current findings highlight the need to use accurate measures of cardiorespiratory fitness rather than indirect estimates to assess the influence of asthma during adolescence. Furthermore, the present study suggests that BMI and fitness may be key targets for future interventions seeking to improve asthma quality of life.

KEYWORDS:

• Obesity
• quality of life
• lung function
• physical activity
• cardiorespiratory fitness

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the pupils and staff of the schools involved with the planning and execution of the measures. Also, the authors would like to thank Nicholas Wade and all others that assisted with data collection. This work is funded by the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research [AUK-AC-2012-01] and Swansea University Medical School. Commando Joe’s® supported the work and also assisted in funding for co-author WTBE.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research [AUK-AC-2012-01].