Background: Studies suggest an association between obesity and asthma. This may be modified by the physiological changes of puberty. We aim to explore the relation between overweight and current asthma among Mexican adolescent females and young women and evaluate how puberty may modify this association.
Methods: Adolescent females (n=6944) and young women aged 11-24 years provided data. Current asthma was defined as wheezing in the last 12 months and obesity by body mass index (BMI). Puberty was defined by age at menarche. The association of obesity and current wheezing was evaluated by using logistic regression adjusting for confounders. The impact of puberty was studied by using stratified analysis by age at menarche.
Results: The prevalence of current wheezing was 16.2% (95% CI 15-17). Compared with girls of normal weight (BMI 15 to >or=85 percentile), obese girls (BMI>or=95 percentile) had an increased risk of current wheezing of 19% (OR=1.19; 95% CI 0.97-1.46). After stratifying by age at menarche, we observed that this increased risk was only present in girls with menarche at 11 years old or younger (1.31%; 95% CI 1.01-1.73).
Conclusions: The association between obesity and asthma seems to be greater among girls with early puberty, suggesting the role of female hormones.