High total cholesterol may increase risk for future asthma in children

SAN ANTONIO — Children with high levels of total cholesterol may be at risk for asthma later in life, according to an abstract presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.

In a systematic literature review, Heysung Baek, MD, PhD, of Hallym University Kangdong, and colleagues analyzed 11 studies published between January 2000 and March 2022 to determine the relationship between dyslipidemia and asthma in children.

Researchers observed inconsistent results across the selected studies, which they noted were mainly cross-sectional.

Next, researchers performed a retrospective multicenter cohort study of children aged younger than 15 years with either high total cholesterol (> 170 mg/dL; n = 29,038) or normal total cholesterol (170 mg/dL; n = 88,823) using electronic health records from five hospitals. Researchers propensity score matched the children and evaluated the risk for asthma using a Cox proportional hazard model and pooled meta-analysis.

Results showed a link between high levels of total cholesterol and future asthma development in the children (pooled HR = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.12-1.52).

“Elevated total cholesterol levels in children had a potential association with asthma development,” Baek and colleagues wrote.