Emily M. D'Agostino, DPH, MS, MEd, MA, Director of Community-Engaged Research Practice; Assistant Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery, discussed her recent study examining the impact of asthma on children’s physical activity levels with MedPage Today.
Severe, persistent asthma in children is linked to decreased physical activity, which may, in turn, lead to poor physical fitness. Longitudinal research assessing asthma severity as a predictor of physical fitness is limited among the pediatric population.
D’Agostino and her colleagues assessed the asthma severity-fitness relationship over time in an urban setting to narrow this knowledge gap.
"We observed an inverse longitudinal relationship between asthma severity and subsequent fitness among urban youth, particularly non-Hispanic Whites. In other words, as asthma severity increased, subsequent physical fitness decreased. The strength of this association was highest in magnitude for non-Hispanic White youth," said D’Agostino.