Studies provide insights into lung disease and lung function in yo...( ATS 2008 TORONTOTwo studies being pr...),Health

ATS 2008, TORONTOTwo studies being presented at the American Thoracic Societys 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Wednesday, May 21 provide insights into lung disease and lung function in young adults. One links low levels of a protein called adiponectin in fat cells to an increase in asthma risk in young women. A second finds that high levels of a protein called ICAM-1 is associated with lower lung function.

The data from both studies comes from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) observational cohort, which recently completed 20 years of health assessment in more than 5,000 young adults. Participants were healthy 18 to 30 year-olds when the study began in 1985 and 1986. The goal of the research has been to look for risk factors for cardiovascular and lung disease as participants age.

Low levels of adiponectin, a protein produced by fat cells, are associated with an increased risk of asthma in women, according to one CARDIA study being presented at 8:15 a.m.

Although adiponectin is produced in fat cells, obesity may trigger an inflammatory response to it, and its production is diminished in obese people. Levels of adiponectin increase with weight loss. To determine the effect of adiponectin on asthma, researchers divided 2,890 men and women from the CARDIA study into thirds according to the amount of adiponectin their fat cells produced.

Women with the lowest amount of adiponectin, who also tended to be more obese, had almost double the risk of developing asthma, compared to women who had the most adiponectin in their blood. This was true regardless of the womens weight. The effect was most evident in the premenopausal women, who represented 90 percent of the 1,603 women included in the study. The researchers did not see a similar relationship between adip
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