Results of a recent UK study suggest that white children are more likely to have asthma than children of Indian and Bangladeshi heritage.

The team of researchers, representing the Social and Public Health Sciences Unit of the Medical Research Council, UK, used students, between the age of 11 and 13, from 51 schools in London as subjects for their study.

In the study, it was found that the condition prevailed less in Indian and Bangladeshi girls and Black African boys and girls as compared to the white boys and girls.

The study also showed that children, within their ethnic groups, having a family history of asthma or a generally poor mental health, were more likely to develop the breathing problem.

Another data suggested that increased body mass index (BMI), particularly in Black Africans, also increased the risk of developing asthma of a child.

Melissa J. Whitrow, PhD, and Seeromanie Harding, MSc, both of the Medical Research Council in Glasgow, Scotland, who were a part of the study, wrote, “The results suggest a role for socio-environmental factors in patterning ethnic differences in asthma in adolescence”.

The details of the study can be found in the online journal BMC Pediatrics.