A new prospective birth cohort study has found that having asthma as a child may increase the likelihood of experiencing obesity later in life.

It is known that asthma and obesity frequently coexist in childhood; however, whether asthma predisposes to adiposity later in life is underexplored, particularly using measures beyond BMI, say the researchers.

In the study of 4717 Portuguese children, having asthma at age four was found to be positively associated with subsequent obesity defined by body fat percentage, particularly among girls. Yet, associations with BMI-defined obesity were not statistically significant.

The findings, published in Wiley, suggest that children with asthma may develop excess adiposity that is not fully picked up by BMI alone. The researchers highlight that this supports the integration of body composition and metabolic risk assessment into pediatric asthma care.

Further research is needed into the mechanisms of these findings and the opportunities for intervention.