An assessment of the moderating effects of dietary habits and activity level on development of asthma in adolescents after exposure to PM 2.5
Abstract
Asthma, a chronic inflammatory condition affecting the respiratory tract, continues to be a considerable burden on adolescents. In order to identify mitigating influences, an ecologic study design was used to do a secondary data analysis using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Child Development Supplement (CDS) and the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network datasets. By evaluating the dietary habits, activity levels, exposure to PM 2.5, and the interactions of those predictors with asthma outcomes, potentially protective relationships between healthy lifestyles, environmental exposures, and asthma indicators were sought. Logistic and linear (OLS) regressions were performed on the data from between samples of 550 and 860 children under 18 across the United States. Afterwards, moderation of PM2.5 exposure and direction of interaction were assessed for both dietary habits and activity level. Little to no relationship was discovered between dietary habits, PM2.5, and asthma outcomes. The number of days of PE reported at school was found to be positively associated with asthma diagnoses as well as with wheezing events. Daily reported moderate to vigorous physical activity was negatively related with asthma diagnosis. Additionally, light physical activity moderated the relationship between PM 2.5 exposure in an Asthma Score and on wheezing attacks, but the analysis of the direction of this interaction revealed little. In the future, micro-environments, more advanced activity level classification systems, and individualized PM 2.5 personal exposure measurements should be considered in order to illuminate further crucial relationships.
Subject Area
Toxicology|Surgery|Nutrition|Public health|Kinesiology
Recommended Citation
Irwin, John Luke Davidson, "An assessment of the moderating effects of dietary habits and activity level on development of asthma in adolescents after exposure to PM 2.5" (2014). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI1569936.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI1569936