In the U.S., the prevalence rates of obesity and asthma have increased over the past 20 years and led to speculation that a correlation exists between them. Most of the research that has been conducted on the association between obesity and asthma has been done so in adults. Little data are available on this association in children. Obesity and asthma are associated with significant morbidity and mortality risk. Concern that the prevalence of overweight and asthma in children will persist and/or worsen in adulthood has prompted the current study. This study analyzed the association between asthma and allergy prevalence and measures of overweight, dietary intake, supplement use, ethnicity, child’s guardian, mother’s education level, and whether the mother smokes among children aged 9 to 11 years and 13 to 15 years. This study also analyzed the association between the use of prescription asthma and allergy medication and asthma and allergy diagnosis, measures of overweight, dietary intake, supplement use, ethnicity, guardian, mother’s education level, and whether the mother smokes. The findings of this study revealed that non-White children had greater odds of asthma diagnosis and were more likely to use asthma medications. A positive correlation was found between asthma diagnosis and allergy diagnosis and between asthma diagnosis and the use of allergy medication. Positive correlations were found between asthma diagnosis and BMI category, subscapular skinfold thickness, and waist circumference among children 9 to 11 years old. Age and weight were found to be inversely correlated with asthma diagnosis among children 13 to 15 years old. BMI category was found to be positively associated with asthma diagnosis among males, but not among females. Asthma diagnosis in females was not found to be significantly correlated with any of the variables. Dietary intake, multi-vitamin/mineral and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, guardian, waist/hip ratio, mother’s smoking habit, and mother’s education level were not found to be significantly correlated with asthma or allergy diagnosis or with asthma or allergy medication use. A significance value of p<0.05 was used for all analyses.

In the U.S., the prevalence rates of obesity and asthma have increased over the past 20 years and led to speculation that a correlation exists between them. Most of the research that has been conducted on the association between obesity and asthma has been done so in adults. Little data are available on this association in children. Obesity and asthma are associated with significant morbidity and mortality risk. Concern that the prevalence of overweight and asthma in children will persist and/or worsen in adulthood has prompted the current study. This study analyzed the association between asthma and allergy prevalence and measures of overweight, dietary intake, supplement use, ethnicity, child’s guardian, mother’s education level, and whether the mother smokes among children aged 9 to 11 years and 13 to 15 years. This study also analyzed the association between the use of prescription asthma and allergy medication and asthma and allergy diagnosis, measures of overweight, dietary intake, supplement use, ethnicity, guardian, mother’s education level, and whether the mother smokes. The findings of this study revealed that non-White children had greater odds of asthma diagnosis and were more likely to use asthma medications. A positive correlation was found between asthma diagnosis and allergy diagnosis and between asthma diagnosis and the use of allergy medication. Positive correlations were found between asthma diagnosis and BMI category, subscapular skinfold thickness, and waist circumference among children 9 to 11 years old. Age and weight were found to be inversely correlated with asthma diagnosis among children 13 to 15 years old. BMI category was found to be positively associated with asthma diagnosis among males, but not among females. Asthma diagnosis in females was not found to be significantly correlated with any of the variables. Dietary intake, multi-vitamin/mineral and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, guardian, waist/hip ratio, mother’s smoking habit, and mother’s education level were not found to be significantly correlated with asthma or allergy diagnosis or with asthma or allergy medication use. A significance value of p<0.05 was used for all analyses.

A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. / Importance: This study proposed a new radiographic measure of obesity that is a better predictive indicator of obesity‐related risk: Fat/Bone Ratio. Primary Objective: Does the Fat/Bone Ratio correlate with obesity. Secondary Objective: Does the Fat/Bone Ratio correlate more closely with the comorbidities of obesity as compared to BMI. Design: Retrospective review of 2703 upright posterior‐anterior (PA) and lateral chest radiographs obtained from June 2013 through May 2014. The soft tissue height overlying the acromioclavicular joint was calculated and divided by the mid‐clavicle width to determine the Fat/Bone Ratio. Comorbidities of obesity were determined through chart review. Setting: Adult community emergency department. Participants: All adults (age greater than 18). Main Outcomes and Measures: BMI, Fat/Bone Ratio, comorbidities: hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular accident, and myocardial infarction. Results: Fat‐to‐Bone ratio and BMI were both significantly associated with hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obstructive sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis (P < .05). However, only Fat/Bone Ratio is associated with atherosclerosis (p = 0.02), coronary artery disease (p = 0.001), myocardial infarction (p = 0.002), and peripheral vascular disease (p = 0.01); BMI is not associated with these comorbidities (p = 0.90, 0.42, 0.25, and 0.50, respectively). Conclusions and Relevance: Findings suggest that Fat/Bone Ratio is an improved measure of obesity as compared to BMI.

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Syfte; Syftet var att undersöka BMI, snabbmatskonsumtion, läskintag och medieanvändande hos ungdomar i klass 9 samt se om samband fanns mellan snabbmatskonsumtion och medieanvändande. Metod; Studien var en delstudie av projektet "Mat och Hälsa 2007". Via en kvantitativ metod har 359 ungdomar i klass 9 (182 pojkar, 177 flickor) på 10 slumpmässigt utvalda skolor i ett län i Mellansverige svarat på frågor via frågeformulär. Resultat; Pojkarnas BMI var i genomsnitt 21 och för flickorna 20.4 och majoriteten av ungdomarna var normalviktiga. Drygt en tredjedel av ungdomarna åt snabbmat och pommes frites mer än två till tre gånger i månaden. Ungefär en tredjedel av ungdomarna drack läsk en gång per vecka och en femtedel uppgav att de drack läsk två till tre gånger per vecka. Majoriteten av ungdomarna tittade på tv mellan en till tre timmar per dag och gällande tv-spel uppger en majoritet att de aldrig använder denna typ av media. Mer än hälften spenderar två till tre timmar per dag eller mer framför datorn. Ett samband kan ses mellan snabbmatskonsumtion och medieanvändande. Slutsats; Ungdomarna i denna studie hade ett normalt BMI och en relativt bra kosthållning, dock en högre läskkonsumtion. Gruppen överviktiga/feta drack läst i större utsträckning än de underviktiga men båda grupperna konsumerade snabbmat lika ofta. Datoranvändandet var relativt högt hos ungdomarna men de spelade nästan aldrig tv-spel. Ett positivt signifikant samband fanns mellan snabbmatskonsumtion och medieanvändande. / Background; The purpose was to investigate BMI, fast-food consumption, soft drink intake, media use among adolescent in ninth grade and if there was a correlation between fast-food consumption and media use. Method; The present study was a part of the project "Food and Health 2007".  Through a quantitative method 359 adolescents in ninth grade (182 boys, 177 girls) in ten random selected schools in a county in central Sweden answered questions through surveys. Result; The boys' BMI was on average 21 and for girls 20.4 and the majority of the youths were of normal weight. Just over a third of young people ate fast food and french fries more than two to three times a month. About a third of young people drank soda once a week and a fifth reported that they drank soft drinks two to three times per week. The majority of young people watched TV between one to three hours per day and a majority declared they never used video games. More than half spend two to three hours or more per day at the computer. A correlation was found between fast food consumption and media usage. Conclusion; Youth of this study had a normal BMI and a relatively good diet, but a higher soft drink consumption. The group of overweight/obese drank soft drinks more than those who were underweight but both groups consumed fast food less often. Computer use was relatively high among young people but they almost never played video games. A positive significant correlation was found between fast food consumption and media usage. / Mat och Hälsa 2007

In New Zealand, cardiovascular disease is higher among Maori and Pacific peoples than other ethnic group. Researchers in Cardiology documented that CVD begins early in a person’s life and that a person's risk of cardiovascular disease is determined by risk factors that contribute to a form of CVD over time. This thesis, “The Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Adolescents of Christchurch: A Cross-Sectional Survey (CRFAC)”, is the first of its kind in the South Island, and was designed to estimate the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease for adolescent high school students in New Zealand. The aims of the study were to determine cardiovascular risk factor levels between, Pacific, Asian, Maori, and European students, with the Pacific communities including (Samoan, Cook Islands, Tongan, and Niuean). The CRFAC was a school-based cross-sectional survey of 1051 adolescent students, across nine Christchurch High Schools. The study specifically aimed to determine ethnic-specific differences in lifestyle and intermediate variables that have been established as cardiovascular risks. Variables included: smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), television exposure, and sun exposure, and body mass index (BMI). Demographic variables analyzed included: form (level of education), gender, ethnic group, and socioeconomic status. In regards to smoking and alcohol consumption, Maori had the highest rates overall 77% and 88%, respectfully. As for LTPA, the type of activity that was participated in varied between sex and ethnicity. For instance, netball was played predominately more for females than males, and rugby was played more so by European/Pakehas than compared to Asians. Maori and Pacific also had a higher proportion 43.4% and 33.7%, respectively, who watched TV four or more hours per week day on average compared to the other ethnicities. Sun exposure varied strongly with ethnicity, with Asian students having a smaller proportion 20.1% in the high daily sun exposure category compared with Maori 40.8 % daily (p< 0.001). The CRFAC study results showed that demographic variables were associated with the intermediate variables: lifestyle and BMI. The findings showed that there were substantive ethnic variations between the four main ethnic groups (Pacific, Maori, Asian and European) in risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The CRFAC study was able to identify contributing factors, for which gave the investigator clarity to possible reasons for ethnic differences in BMI. The CRFAC study results showed that Pacific participants had the highest BMI levels of all the ethnic groups, followed by Maori.

Introduction: Approximately 3 million child maltreatment (CM) referrals are made each year to state and social service agencies (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services- Children’s Bureau, 2012). This number appears to be an underestimate of the size of the problem however. Survey data collected by the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that about six million children are maltreated in the U.S. per year. CM negatively impacts the mental and physical health and social outcomes of victims in childhood and adulthood. For example, CM has been linked to obesity and overweight in children and adults. Similar to CM, overweight and obesity are also associated with various long-term and short-term health conditions for children and adults. Beyond the specific provision of food and modeling of eating and exercise behaviors, other family factors have been shown to relate to obesity including disorganized family environments, low parental supervision, maternal antipathy, child maltreatment, and family dysfunction. Objective: To examine the relationship between CM and obesity using a large sample of twin and sibling pairs, I will first examined the simple relationship between various form of abuse and obesity, and then, following the methodology of Vámosi et al. (2011), examine twin and sibling pairs to look at differences in experiences of CM and obesity. Methods: The current study used the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), a public use longitudinal data set with information in the areas of physical, emotional/mental, and lifestyle characteristics of individuals in their 20’s, 40’s, and 60’s. The data set also includes nationally representative data about sibling and twin pairs. The MIDUS I had a sample of 7,108 participants. The MIDUS II was a follow-up of the MIDUS I and included 4,963 participants. The main variables I used were Body Mass Index (BMI) and CM, which was measured through the Conflict Tactics Scale. I controlled for various variables that contribute to overweight or obesity, such as socioeconomic status, educational attainment, physical activity, and depression. The comparison of twin and non-twin sibling data was of particular interest because of the strong genetic component of obesity. Results: Analyses were conducted using SPSS. I first examined simple correlations between abuse variables and obesity. Next, I conducted regression analyses examining the relationship between abuse and obesity, while controlling for gender, educational attainment, age, and several other variables associated with CM and obesity. The third analyses focused on examining differences in the abuse – obesity relationship between twin and sibling pairs. There was a small, negative relationship between BMI continuous and emotional abuse and physical abuse. There was a small, positive relationship between each form of abuse and BMI categories. Discussion: Although statistically significant results were found, they were small. The relationship between obesity and overweight and experience of CM is valid after controlling for various predictors, like health insurance, depression, and self-rated physical and emotional health. Public health practitioners should be sensitive to the physical health of victims of CM, especially concerning obesity and overweight. Many public health practitioners focus on the mental and emotional health of victims of CM, but they should also be made aware of the impact that CM has on physical health. There are several limitations. Regarding the CM variables, participants may have had difficulties recalling events from their childhood, so recall bias is a major limitation. Another limitation is that much of the data is self-reported which could have led to some data, like BMI, being inaccurate. Finally, we do not know the quality of the phone interviews or how well phone interviewers were trained.

Cílem práce bylo zjistit a zhodnotit, zda provedení adjustabilní žaludeční bandáže (bariatrická léčba) u morbidně obézních pacientů (BMI>35) vede k signifikantnímu snížení hodnoty BMI a dále na základě vybraných kritérií zhodnotit současnou situaci v oblasti obezity ve světě. Byly stanoveny dvě hypotézy: H1: provedení adjustabilní žaludeční bandáže morbidně obézním pacientům vede k signifikantnímu snížení BMI a hypotéza H2: existují rozdíly v hodnotách BMI v závislosti na geografick&eacu te;m původu, pohlaví, kulturních a ekonomických odlišnostech. Sledování se uskutečnila v klinickém centru ISCARE I.V.F. a. s. v Praze na pracovišti Centra pro léčbu obezity. Byla statisticky zpracována a zhodnocena data 159 obézních pacientů (BMI>35) operovaných v rámci bariatrické chirurgie metodou adjustabilní gastrické bandáže (věk, pohlaví, stupeň dosaženého vzdělání, hodnota BMI před operačním výkonem, 1. týden po operaci, 1 měsíc po operaci, 3 měsíce po operaci, 6 měsíců po operaci, 1 rok po operaci a komplikace související s výkonem a léčbou) a dále data WHO o hodnotách BMI podle geografického regionu, pohlaví, kulturních a ekonomických odlišností. Hypotéza H1 byla potvrzena. Po adjustabilní žaludeční bandáži dochází u pacientů k statisticky významnému poklesu (P<0,05) hodnoty BMI (ze 42,27 - + 5,58 na 35,13 - + 6,0). Pokles hodnoty BMI není závislý na věku pacienta ani na pohlaví pacienta, avšak je signifikantně (P<0,05) ovlivněn stupněm dosaženého vzdělání. Nejlepších výsledků bylo dosaženo u vysokoškolsky vzdělaných pacientů. Procento komplikací (4,4%) po operačním zákroku bylo vzhledem k počtu provedených zákroků nízké. Také hypotéza H2 byla potvrzena. Byly prokázány rozdíly v z& aacute;vislosti na geografickém regionu, pohlaví, kulturních a ekonomických odlišnostech. První místo v dosažené hodnotě BMI zaujímá Severní Amerika, naopak nízké hodnoty BMI vykazují státy Subsaharské Afriky, u evropské populace byl zjištěn vyšší BMI u mužů nežli u žen v porovnání se zbývajícími hodnocenými oblastmi. Muži Severní Ameriky zaujímají první místo svou hodnotou BMI, zatímco u žen je to Střední Východ a Severní Afrika. Byl zjištěn pouze statisticky nevýznamný nárůst BMI v jednotlivých oblastech světa. Existuje signifikantní rozdíl (P< 0,05) v hodnotách BMI mezi ekonomicky vyspělými a ekonomicky méně vysp ělými státy. V ekonomicky méně vyspělých zemích existují rozdíly mezi BMI žen a mužů, kdy ženy mají průkazně vyšší (P< 0,05) hodnoty BMI oproti mužům. Obecně nejvyšší BMI vykazují státy s křesťanskou kulturou, poté státy s kulturou islámskou a nakonec státy ovlivněné buddhismem a hinduismem. U ekonomicky méně vyspělých států je dosahováno nejvyššího BMI u křesťanských států, naopak z ekonomicky vyspělých států mají nejvyšší hodnotu BMI státy s islámskou kulturou.

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