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Severe atopic disease, sleep disturbances linked to sedentary behavior in children

Severe atopic diseases — including asthma, eczema and hay fever — in conjunction with sleep disturbances were associated with a higher risk of sedentary behaviors among children, according to study results.

“Children with atopic diseases use more health care services and incur significantly higher health care expenditures than do children without atopic disease,” Mark A. Strom, BS, and Jonathan I. Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH, of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, wrote. “Additionally, childhood atopic disease is associated with increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity and hypertension and also is associated with increased prevalence of sleep disturbance and poor sleep quality.”

Jonathan I. Silverberg

Sleep disturbance among children has been linked to sedentary behavior, but there is conflicting evidence on the effect of atopic disease on physical activity. Strom and Silverberg evaluated whether atopic disease and sleep disturbances are associated with decreased physical activity and increased sedentary behavior.

The researchers gathered data from the 2003 to 2004 and 2007 to 2008 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which were combined with demographics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, to estimate the frequency of children’s health issues. The surveys included 133,107 children aged 6 to 17 years. They calculated the probability of atopic disease and atopic disease severity in relation to television/video game usage, levels of physical activity, and participation in sports.

They determined that a lifetime history of asthma was associated with decreased likelihood of 1 or more days of physical activity (adjusted OR [aOR] = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.77-0.99) and decreased sports participation (aOR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-0.99). They also found that atopic disease combined with sleep disturbance was associated with higher odds of screen time and lower odds of participation in sports than atopic disease or sleep disturbance alone.

They also found a decreased odds of 1 or more days of vigorous physical activity for patients with severe eczema (aOR = 0.39; 95% CI, 0.19-0.78), severe asthma (aOR = 0.29; 95% CI, 0.14-0.61), and hay fever (aOR = 0.48; 95% CI, 0.24-0.97). There was also a lower likelihood of sports participation among those with: moderate eczema (aOR = 0.76; 95% CI, 0.57-0.99), severe eczema (aOR = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.28-0.73), severe asthma (aOR = 0.47; 95% CI, 0.25-0.89), and hay fever (aOR = 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36-0.61).

“We found that children with a 1-year history of eczema and asthma, in general, and severe asthma, eczema, and hay fever, in particular, participated in significantly less vigorous physical activity,” Strom and Silverberg wrote. “Severe eczema and asthma were associated with significantly greater odds of ≥ 5 hours of daily television and video games. Ever history of asthma, moderate to severe eczema, severe asthma, and severe hay fever were all associated with a lesser odds of sports participation. Finally, children with atopic disease and sleep disturbances seem to have even higher odds of sedentary behavior than those with either atopic disease or sleep disturbance alone.” – by Rafi Naseer

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.