Do teenagers kick asthma?
15 July 2004

Many children may not simply 'grow out' of asthma when they become teenagers, as has previously been widely assumed, according to a US study.

Doctors at the University of Arizona studied 781 children in the 'Tucson Respiratory Cohort' – a group of children born at approximately the same time whose respiratory health has been tracked from birth by researchers.

They found that wheezing symptoms continued during adolescence in over half of the children who had asthma diagnosed before puberty. 'Our findings challenge the commonly held view that asthma usually remits during adolescence,' said Dr Stefano Guerra, who led the research. 'Only 42% of children with asthma reported no wheezing in the first four years after the onset of puberty.'

Looking more closely at their results, the researchers found that obesity and the age at which puberty starts may play a part in determining whether a child 'grows out' of asthma or not in their teen years. Among the children who continued to experience asthma symptoms as adolescents, a disproportionate amount were overweight or had been younger to enter puberty. Being obese doubled the likelihood of a child having persistent asthma, said the scientists. 'These findings expand our understanding of the relationship between obesity and asthma,' said Dr Guerra.

‘This study reminds us that we shouldn't assume that a child's asthma will disappear as they grow up, but the link between asthma and obesity may not be quite so simple,' said Kate Webb, Senior Policy & Information Officer at Asthma UK.

'Asthma isn't limited to overweight children,' she added. 'It would be interesting to know whether the teenagers in this study are obese as a result of their condition, which may be due to less exercise, or whether their obesity has caused their asthma,' she added.

The research was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.