The role of vitamin A in relation to childhood asthma with hypertension: a cross-sectional study of the NHANES database.

Background: Recent studies have reported that diet can modulate the associations between risk factors and childhood metabolic diseases. Herein, this study aims to explore the role of dietary vitamin A (VA) in relation to asthma with hypertension in children and adolescents, and further provide some information on dietary aspect for the prevention of asthma related hypertension.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data of 9,448 children and adolescents were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database for the period of 2007 to 2018. Weighted univariate logistic regression analysis was used for covariates screening, and associations of dietary VA and asthma with hypertension were explored through weighted univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used as evaluation indexes. Besides, subgroup analyses of age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) were also performed.

Results: There were a total of 546 participants with hypertension in the study cohort. Children and adolescents with asthma had higher odds of hypertension than non-asthma individuals after covariates adjustment (OR =1.35, 95% CI: 1.03-1.78). When there were deficient dietary VA intakes, having asthma was significantly linked to higher odds of hypertension comparing to non-asthma individuals (OR =1.46, 95% CI: 1.07-1.99). Additionally, the potential beneficial effect of sufficient dietary VA intakes on hypertension related asthma was found in aged ≥13 years old (OR =1.65, 95% CI: 1.21-2.26), male (OR =1.59, 95% CI: 1.09-2.33), and underweight/normal weight (OR =1.97, 95% CI: 1.14-3.43) subgroups.

Conclusions: Children and adolescents having asthma seemed to have higher odds of hypertension, and sufficient dietary VA intakes may help reduce the risk of asthma related hypertension. However, the causal effect of dietary VA intakes on this correlation needs further clarification.