Obesity may have a greater impact on girls than it does boys when it comes to the development of atopic disease. This is according to data presented at the 2017 AAAAI allergists meeting.
Researchers surveyed 113 children at an urban university hospital about their history of allergic rhinitis, eczema, asthma, food allergies and other markers of atopic disease.
On the whole, obese children (23 percent of the sample) did not have more allergic symptoms, but obese girls were more prone to allergic diseases.
In boys, obesity was surprisingly associated with a slighter lower rate of atopic disease, suggesting that the relationship between obesity and atopic disease may vary by sex.
As this is a small survey, more research is needed to confirm the results.
See Also:
Allergic Living’s full list of 2017 conference articles here.
