نبذة مختصرة : Purpose: To examine the independent association of asthma and obesity and of their coexistence with functional exercise capacity among urban adolescents. Methods: One hundred and eighteen Hispanic and African American adolescents including 33 obese asthmatics, 18 normal-weight asthmatics, 38 obese non-asthmatics and 29 normal-weight non-asthmatics underwent anthropometric measures, 6 minute walk test (6MWT) as measure of functional exercise capacity and spirometry as measure of pulmonary function. The 6 minute walk distance (6MWD) was compared between the four study groups. The association of 6MWD with measures of lower airway obstruction, and measures of adiposity was assessed. Results: The 6MWD was lower among the obese groups with the least distance covered by the obese asthmatic group (p=0.02). In the obese asthmatic group, there was a negative correlation between 6MWD and body mass index (BMI) (r= −0.35, p= 0.03) but no association was noted with percent-predicted Forced Expiratory Volume in the 1st second (FEV1) (r=0.07, p=0.70). Conversely, the 6MWD correlated with FEV1 among normal-weight asthmatics (r=0.45, p=0.04) and normal-weight non-asthmatics (r=0.4, p=0.03) but was not associated with BMI in either of the two groups. After adjusting for age, height, gender and ethnicity, BMI was noted to be a significant predictor (β −2.76, 95% CI −4.77- −0.76, pConclusions: Our findings suggest that among urban minority obese asthmatic adolescents, functional exercise capacity was associated with obesity, rather than pulmonary function.
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