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Duane L Sherrill

Publications and source records attributed to Duane L Sherrill.

20 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

The relation of body mass index to asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested a relationship between asthma and obesity. Despite these reports, the effect of being underweight or overweight as a risk factor for airway obstructive diseases (AODs) is not clear. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a relation of body mass index (BMI) to asthma, chronic bronchitis (CB), or emphysema exists (analysis 1), and, if so, whether the association between obesity and asthma is modified by gender (analysis 2). DESIGN: Nested case-control study from the longitudinal cohort of the Tucson Epidemiologic Study of Airways Obstructive Diseases. PATIENTS: Analysis 1: physician-confirmed incident cases of asthma (n = 102), CB (n = 299), or emphysema (n = 72) who denied any prior AODs. Analysis 2: all 169 incident cases of asthma, regardless of any previous AODs, stratified by gender and by other potential effect modifiers. In both analyses, we selected only subjects at least 20 years old who had weight and height measured during the study. MEASUREMENTS: BMI and other risk factors were assessed prior to the onset of the AOD (cases) or prior to the last completed survey (control subjects). RESULTS: A diagnosis of emphysema was significantly associated with a BMI < 18.5 (odds ratio [OR], 2.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33 to 6.68, when compared to healthy control subjects). A BMI >/= 28 increased the risk of receiving a diagnosis of asthma (OR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.31 to 3.36) and CB (OR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.32 to 2.46). About 30% of the patients with asthma and 25% of the patients with CB (vs 16% of the control subjects, p < 0.001) were preobese or obese, regardless whether BMI was assessed before the diagnosis or before the onset of respiratory symptoms. The relation of elevated BMI to asthma was significant only among women. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with emphysema are more likely to be underweight, and patients with CB are more likely to be obese. However, the temporal relationship between abnormal BMI and the onset of COPD is uncertain. Preobese and obese women are at increased risk of acquiring asthma. This relation, particularly if it is causal, has potentially relevant public health implications.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

On the association between date of birth and pollen sensitization: is age an effect modifier?

An association between date of birth and development of allergy has been proposed by prior research. Yet, the presence of a dose-response relationship or any potential effect modification for this association has not been widely studied. The aims of our study were to investigate whether an association between birth during pollen season and symptomatic sensitization to pollens exists, whether this association is stronger for patients with high rather than low allergic reactivity to pollens, and whether this association is modified by the age of the patients. Among 3318 asthmatic and/or rhinitic outpatients, we selected 805 patients sensitized exclusively to pollens (78 with low reactivity [LR] and 727 with high reactivity [HR]) and 629 patients with negative skin-prick tests (SPT) (control group). The association between being born during pollen season (February-July) and each of the pollen reactivity levels was assessed by estimating the odds ratios (OR). HR pollinosis patients were more likely than SPT negative patients of being born in February-July (OR 1.38, 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) 1.11-1.71). The likelihood of having been born in pollen season significantly increased across the levels of reactivity to pollens (HR > LR > SPT negative). These findings were valid only among patients with an early onset of symptoms. Although the OR for being born in pollen season was 1.91 (95% CI 1.32-2.77) for HR pollinosis patients with onset of symptoms < or = 15 years, it was 1.13 (95% CI 0.87-1.48) for those with later onset of symptoms (test of homogeneity: p = 0.026). Our results suggest that the exposure to allergenic pollens in the first months of life increases the risk of developing clinically relevant sensitization to them, particularly in the first 15 years of life.

Adolescent↗