Archives of Biological Sciences 2013 Volume 65, Issue 3, Pages: 1157-1162
https://doi.org/10.2298/ABS1303157S
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Nutritional status (BMI) in children suffering from asthma
Šćepanović Anđelka (University of Montenegro, Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics, Department of Biology, Podgorica, Montenegro)
Perović Andrej (University of Montenegro, Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics, Department of Biology, Podgorica, Montenegro)
Božić-Krstić Verica (Faculty of Sciences, Department for Biology and Ecology, Novi Sad)
The research encompassed 708 children of both genders, aged 6 to 15. Three
hundred and fifty four of the total number had been diagnosed with Asthma
bronchiale, whereas the other half of the children were healthy and served as
a control group. Their nutritional condition was determined on the basis of
the percentile value of their BMI. Recent studies on the level of nutrition
and its connection to asthma have shown contradictory results. This paper was
aimed at estimating the nutritional level of sick children in relation to
healthy ones. The data were analyzed in relation to group, gender and age by
means of descriptive methods, univariate (analysis of variance - ANOVA) and
multivariate (multivariate analysis of variance - MANOVA), whereas the
results were tested by Roy’s test (Pearson contingency coefficient χ,
coefficient of multiple correlation R). It was determined that male children
more frequently suffer from this disease than female children do. Both
healthy and sick children were normally nourished. However, as regards the
sick, the number of normally nourished was considerably lower, whereas the
number of underweight was considerably higher, as well as those that were
overweight. Intergroup differences in the distribution of certain levels of
nutrition of male and female children occurred in only two non-sequential age
groups, being later in boys than in girls. This uneven distribution is
probably a consequence of the joint effects of environment factors, sickness
and therapy.
Keywords: Children, asthma, nutritional condition, BMI