Nutritional status (BMI) in children suffering from asthma

Abstract

The research encompassed 708 children of both genders, aged 6 to 15. Three hundred and fifty four of the total number had been diagnosed with Asthma bronchiale, whereas the other half of the children were healthy and served as a control group. Their nutritional condition was determined on the basis of the percentile value of their BMI. Recent studies on the level of nutrition and its connection to asthma have shown contradictory results. This paper was aimed at estimating the nutritional level of sick children in relation to healthy ones. The data were analyzed in relation to group, gender and age by means of descriptive methods, univariate (analysis of variance - ANOVA) and multivariate (multivariate analysis of variance - MANOVA), whereas the results were tested by Roy's test (Pearson contingency coefficient , coefficient of multiple correlation R). It was determined that male children more frequently suffer from this disease than female children do. Both healthy and sick children were normally nourished. However, as regards the sick, the number of normally nourished was considerably lower, whereas the number of underweight was considerably higher, as well as those that were overweight. Intergroup differences in the distribution of certain levels of nutrition of male and female children occurred in only two non-sequential age groups, being later in boys than in girls. This uneven distribution is probably a consequence of the joint effects of environment factors, sickness and therapy.