Late Breaking Abstract - Associations of fathers and their offsprings weight gain with non-allergic asthma

Background: We found that a father’s overweight in puberty was associated with non-allergic asthma in his future offspring. Aim: We explored the associations of both fathers and their offsprings own weight gain throughout the lifespan with offspring non-allergic asthma. Methods: We analysed questionnaire data from 3018 adult offspring (age 18-50) and their 2153 fathers (age 39-66) participating in the RHINESSA/RHINE generation study in 10 ECRHS centres in North Europe, Spain and Australia. The associations of fathers' and their offsprings weight gain was assessed by 9 body silhouettes (from lean to fat) self-reported for childhood, puberty and adult ages with non-allergic asthma in the offspring. It was analysed using a logistic regression model adjusted for parents and offspring variables, and cluster by family. Results: Non-allergic asthma was related to a weight gain of ≥2 body silhouettes from 8 years to puberty, both for fathers’ weight gain (OR 1.69; 95% CI 1.05-2.72; adjusted for fathers asthma, offspring body mass index, smoking and education) and for their offspring weight gain (1.77 [1.12-2.79], adjusted for parents´ education, smoking and asthma, and fathers´ weight gain from age 8 to puberty). If the father was overweight at puberty, in addition to having gained weight, non-allergic asthma in the offspring was more than tripled (3.53[1.80-6.94]; weight gain and adjustment as given above). No effect of weight gain from puberty or within adulthood in fathers’ or their offspring was observed. Conclusion: Non-allergic asthma was associated with weight gain from childhood to puberty. This was found both for personal weight gain and for having a father who gained weight.