Matricardi P M, Grüber C, Wahn U, Lau S
Department of Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charité- Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
Clin Exp Allergy. 2007 Apr;37(4):476-84. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2007.02664.x.
Obesity and asthma are public health priorities in developed countries. Genes which may contribute to the control of both conditions include those encoding for the beta2-adrenergic receptor, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Prospective studies consistently supported a link between obesity and reported wheezing or asthma diagnosis in children. However, there are still no clear explanations for such a link. On one hand, overweight asthmatic children may perceive their asthma as worse. On the other hand, atopic sensitization and bronchial hyper-reactivity do not explain the observed associations. After puberty, the association between asthma and obesity tends to be stronger in girls than in boys. It is conceivable that severe obesity in adolescent females may aggravate asthma through mechanisms different from those linking prepubertal obesity to unremitting asthma in males. Future studies should therefore address multiple age- and gender-specific hypotheses about the mechanisms that link obesity to asthma throughout childhood.
肥胖和哮喘是发达国家的公共卫生重点问题。可能有助于控制这两种疾病的基因包括编码β2-肾上腺素能受体、肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和胰岛素样生长因子1（IGF-1）的基因。前瞻性研究一直支持肥胖与儿童报告的喘息或哮喘诊断之间存在联系。然而，对于这种联系仍没有明确的解释。一方面，超重的哮喘儿童可能会觉得自己的哮喘更严重。另一方面，特应性致敏和支气管高反应性并不能解释所观察到的关联。青春期后，哮喘与肥胖之间的关联在女孩中往往比在男孩中更强。可以想象，青春期女性的严重肥胖可能通过与青春期前肥胖与男性持续性哮喘之间联系不同的机制加重哮喘。因此，未来的研究应该探讨关于肥胖与整个儿童期哮喘之间联系机制的多个年龄和性别特异性假设。
