Background: Diet plays an important role in asthma, the most likely and most efficient method of exploiting that effect to individual and population benefit is probably dietary manipulation to increase intake of natural foods, and particularly fresh fruits and vegetables, in a balanced diet throughout life the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Body Mass Index on childhood asthma outcome.
Objectives: to assess the Impact of Children`s Nutritional Status on The Control of Bronchial Asthma
Patients and Methods: This is a cross sectional study carried out on 60 child attending Al-Azhar University- Pediatric Pulmonology Unit. In AL-Hussein University Hospitals.
The time of the study was 6 months from Dec 2017 to May 2018. The study included 60 children with mild persistent asthma with age range from 6-12 years they were 26 males & 34 females. Divided into 3 groups; group A including 20 underweight , group B included 20 overweight and group C including 20 normal weight. All patients were assessed clinically and by Spiro metric examination. Patients were subjected to full history taking including dietary intake, full medical examination including anthropometric measurements, and laboratory investigations including complete blood picture, serum iron, total serum protein & albumin. Data were collected, tabulated and statistically analyzed.
Results: Comparing both groups A and B by group C as regards their Spiro metric results; group B had higher values in all parameters (Forced Vital Capacity, Forced Expiratory Volume in 1second, and Forced Expiratory Flow 25-75).
Conclusion: High Body Mass Index is a cause of poor asthma control while low Body Mass Index have no significant effect on asthma outcome in children.
Recommendation: Interventions that aim to prevent excessive weight gain in the pre-school and elementary school years are especially important to healthy development and may also help to reduce asthma- and obesity-related morbidity in school-aged children, adolescents, and adults.