ArticlePLoS medicine2014
Effects of BMI, fat mass, and lean mass on asthma in childhood: a Mendelian randomization study.
Article in PLoS medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 121 citations in OpenAlex.
- Polygenic scores and physical fitness prediction: a systematic review.Human genetics · 2026Pooled it
- Mendelian Randomization Analysis Reveals a Complex Genetic Interplay among Atopic Dermatitis, Asthma, and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Differential gene expression in nasal airway epithelium from overweight or obese youth with asthma.Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology · 2022Pooled it
- Obesity in young children and its relationship with diagnosis of asthma, vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency, specific allergies and flat-footedness: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2021Pooled it
- Bidirectional Association Between Asthma and Obesity During Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2020Pooled it
- Vitamin D levels and susceptibility to asthma, elevated immunoglobulin E levels, and atopic dermatitis: A Mendelian randomization study.PLoS medicine · 2017Pooled it
- Moving Mendelian Randomization From Traditional Risk Factors to Molecular Targets for Drug Development and Clinical Trials in Nephrology.Kidney international reports · 2026Review
- The Role of Environmental Exposures in Pediatric Asthma Pathogenesis: A Contemporary Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Obesity indicators and female asthma risk: the mediating role of white blood cell count based on NHANES data analysis.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2025Article
- Exploring the Potential Roles ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Observational birth cohorts for causal and predictive inference: The example of childhood asthma and allergic diseases.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2025Review
- Non-T2 asthma.Current opinion in pulmonary medicine · 2025Review
- Association between BMI and asthma in adults over 45 years of age: analysis of Global Burden of Disease 2021, China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- European Respiratory Society Research Seminar on Preventing Pediatric Asthma.Pediatric pulmonology · 2025Review
- Nonlinear Relationship Between Body Mass Index Z-Scores and Lung Function Parameters in Asthmatic Children: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of asthma and allergy · 2025Article
- Relationship between prognostic nutritional index and asthma: a cross-sectional analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Evaluating Severe Therapy-Resistant Asthma in Children: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Review
- Revealing polygenic pleiotropy using genetic risk scores for asthma.HGG advances · 2023Article
- Global, regional, and national burden of asthma and its attributable risk factors from 1990 to 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.Respiratory research · 2023Article
- Socioeconomic status and asthma: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2023Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundObservational studies have reported associations between body mass index (BMI) and asthma, but confounding and reverse causality remain plausible explanations. We aim to investigate evidence for a causal effect of BMI on asthma using a Mendelian randomization approach. METHODS AND
findingsWe used Mendelian randomization to investigate causal effects of BMI, fat mass, and lean mass on current asthma at age 7½ y in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). A weighted allele score based on 32 independent BMI-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was derived from external data, and associations with BMI, fat mass, lean mass, and asthma were estimated. We derived instrumental variable (IV) estimates of causal risk ratios (RRs). 4,835 children had available data on BMI-associated SNPs, asthma, and BMI. The weighted allele score was strongly associated with BMI, fat mass, and lean mass (all p-values<0.001) and with childhood asthma (RR 2.56, 95% CI 1.38-4.76 per unit score, p = 0.003). The estimated causal RR for the effect of BMI on asthma was 1.55 (95% CI 1.16-2.07) per kg/m2, p = 0.003. This effect appeared stronger for non-atopic (1.90, 95% CI 1.19-3.03) than for atopic asthma (1.37, 95% CI 0.89-2.11) though there was little evidence of heterogeneity (p = 0.31). The estimated causal RRs for the effects of fat mass and lean mass on asthma were 1.41 (95% CI 1.11-1.79) per 0.5 kg and 2.25 (95% CI 1.23-4.11) per kg, respectively. The possibility of genetic pleiotropy could not be discounted completely; however, additional IV analyses using FTO variant rs1558902 and the other BMI-related SNPs separately provided similar causal effects with wider confidence intervals. Loss of follow-up was unlikely to bias the estimated effects.
conclusionsHigher BMI increases the risk of asthma in mid-childhood. Higher BMI may have contributed to the increase in asthma risk toward the end of the 20th century. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.