fbpx Skip to main content

Obesity can contribute to worse asthma outcomes, including a reduced response to controller medication and a need for oral corticosteroids. This study sought to determine the association between obesity and oral corticosteroid prescription in Latino and non-Hispanic white children.

Electronic health records from community health centers across the United States were included, with a sample size of 16,763 children. The study criteria included children between 5 and 17 years old who had received an asthma diagnosis and had visited clinics for asthma-related issues more than one time between 2012 and 2017.

The sample’s racial/ethnic and sex demographics were 63.8% Latino, 36.2% non-Hispanic white, 56% male, and 44% female. A majority of the patients (81.4%) had public insurance. It was found that 39.1% of the children always fell into an overweight/obese body mass index-for-age percentile, 22.9% sometimes fell into an overweight body mass index-for-age percentile, and 38% never fell into an overweight/obese body mass index-for-age percentile.

After conducting a Poisson regression analysis, researchers determined that Latino children who fit the study criteria were 15% more likely to receive a prescription for an oral corticosteroid if they fell into an overweight or obese body mass index-for-age percentile at the time of the visit. The researchers noted a similar pattern among non-Hispanic white children.

In conclusion, this study found that both Latino children and non-Hispanic white children with asthma who struggled with being overweight or obese were more likely to receive oral corticosteroids than children with asthma and a healthy weight. A call to action is made to prevent and manage unhealthy weight in children with asthma to improve their asthma outcomes and overall health status [1].

You May Also Like::  Mepolizumab for the Treatment of Eosinophilic Asthma

Source:

[1] Lucas, J. A., Marino, M., Fankhauser, K., Bailey, S. R., Ezekiel-Herrera, D., Kaufmann, J., Cowburn, S., Suglia, S. F., Bazemore, A., Puro, J., & Heintzman, J. (2019). Oral corticosteroid use, obesity, and ethnicity in children with asthma. Journal of Asthma, 57(12), 1288–1297. https://doi.org/10.1080/02770903.2019.1656228

“Keeping up with the indications and adverse reactions to immune checkpoint inhibitors can be a full-time job. Cutaneous side effects occur in up to 45% of patients treated with ipilimumab and 34% of patients treated with nivolumab and pembrolizumab.” https://bit.ly/3FGtxtd

.@spfnomt: This month’s #DermWorld article “Estate planning 101” is especially important for young physicians to read. The long, all-consuming years between adolescence and physicianhood can become a blur...https://bit.ly/3FxOtCv

That’s a wrap #AAD2023! 5 days of soaking up knowledge from dermatologists on topics such as hidradenitis, melasma, & dietary triggers of common dermatoses.

I LOVED the #womenshealth focused sessions on vulvar dermatoses and pregnancy medication safety.

#dermtwitter
@AADmember

New approach uses microbiome to treat skin disease by repairing the injured microbiome that allowed inflammation to flare up in the first place, rather than reducing the inflammation after the fact. https://bit.ly/3Jt6H9v

Load More