| Models for adiposity measure | Women | Men | |||
| No with current asthma/total | OR (95% CI) | No with current asthma/total | OR (95% CI) | ||
| BMI | |||||
| Underweight and normal weight | 31/585 | 1 | 18/356 | 1 | |
| Overweight | 37/420 | 1.68 (1.01 to 2.79) | 39/559 | 1.54 (0.84 to 2.80) | |
| Obese | 100/598 | 3.31 (2.00 to 5.46) | 21/372 | 1.33 (0.61 to 2.89) | |
| p Value for Wald χ2 | <0.001 | 0.37 | |||
| BMI adjusted for adiponectin | |||||
| Underweight and normal weight | 31/585 | 1 | 18/356 | 1 | |
| Overweight | 37/420 | 1.63 (0.98 to 2.74) | 39/559 | 1.64 (0.89 to 3.02) | |
| Obese | 100/598 | 3.19 (1.91 to 5.32) | 21/372 | 1.45 (0.66 to 3.17) | |
| p Value for Wald χ2 | <0.001 | 0.28 | |||
Covariates adjusted in each logistic regression model include age, race, smoking status, ln(physical activity), history of diabetes and ln(insulin resistance). In addition, when indicated, group-specific tertiles of serum adiponectin concentration were also adjusted.
The interaction between sex and BMI on current asthma was significant (p = 0.004 in both models).
Adiponectin tertile cut-off points are 1.2–9.0, 9.0–14.4 and 14.4–94.8 mg/l for women and 1.0–6.0, 6.0–9.6 and 9.6–64.0 mg/l for men.
Similar results were obtained when the underweight and normal weight categories were analysed separately with the latter serving as the referent category.
BMI categories are defined as follows: underweight <18.5 kg/m2; normal weight 18.5–24.9 kg/m2; overweight 25.0–29.9 kg/m2; obese ⩾30 kg/m2.
BMI, body mass index; CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio.