Association between body roundness index and asthma in children and adolescents: findings from NHANES…

Cohort studyAnnals of human biology· Dec 2026

Association between body roundness index and asthma in children and adolescents: findings from NHANES 1999-2020.

Tingqiaonan Chen, Shujing Cai, Huiqin Wang

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Pediatric RespiratoryCohort studyQ3IF 1.6

Higher body roundness index associated with greater odds of childhood asthma

Association between body roundness index and asthma in children and adolescents: findings from NHANES 1999-2020.

Tingqiaonan Chen … Huiqin Wang

Annals of human biology · Dec 2026

Background

Childhood and adolescent asthma remains a major public health concern, and obesity may contribute through mechanical and inflammatory pathways.

Purpose

To investigate the association between Body Roundness Index and asthma in children and adolescents.

Methods

A total of 28,789 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) 1999-2020 participants aged 6-20 years were included.

n = 2020 participants

Results

higher body roundness raised the odds of childhood asthma

OR 1.23 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.31)

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

Restricted cubic spline analysis suggested a nonlinear association between Body Roundness Index and current asthma.

In fully adjusted analyses, Body Roundness Index and BMI z score showed comparable discriminative performance, with no significant difference in the area under the curve.

“

Conclusion

Higher Body Roundness Index was positively associated with current asthma among children and adolescents. Future prospective studies are warranted to clarify the temporal relationship and underlying biological mechanisms.

Association between body roundness index and asthma in children and adolescents: findings from NHANES 1999-2020.

Association between body roundness index and asthma in children and adolescents: findings from NHANES 1999-2020.

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