Anthony J. Brown, New York: Overweight children seen in the ER for an asthma flare up are more likely to be admitted to the hospital than their non-overweight peers, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics.

Moreover, this finding holds true regardless of illness severity.

"This is the first study in children to examine the relationship between overweight and hospital admission during asthma exacerbations," lead author Dr. Christopher L. Carroll, from Connecticut Children's Hospital in Hartford, told Reuters Health.Carroll said his team was "some what surprised" by the mainfinding.

"It suggests that obese children respond more slowly to therapy for acute exacerbations." The findings are based on a review of all children, older than 2 years of age, who were seen for an asthma flare up at the researchers' ER in 2005.

Only children without other chronic medical conditions were included in the analysis.

Overweight children were defined as being in the 95th or higher percentile of weight for age.

Overall, 813 children made 884 ER visits for asthma flare ups during the study period, the authors report.

Of the sevisits, 27 percent resulted in a hospital admission, including 4 percent that involved an intensive care unit admission. Increasing asthma severity was associated with hospital admission, but age, gender, and poverty were not, the report indicates.

Of the ER visits made during the study, 77 percent involved a normal weight child and 23 percent involved an overweight child.