Background and objective: Asthma is one of the main chronic respiratory diseases in childhood and the persistence of the inflammatory picture, associated with frequent exacerbations, may exert a negative influence on lung function. In addition to this variable airflow limitation, individuals with asthma may also present limitations in physical and functional capacity. The objective of the study was to analyze the level of physical activity and functional capacity of children and adolescents with asthma, with different levels of control of the disease, and to compare them with individuals without asthma.Method: Cross-sectional study with children and adolescents with and without asthma aged 7-17 years. All participants performed a 6-minute walk test (6MWT), daily life activities test Glittre (ADL-Glittre), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and daily recording of steps by a pedometer. In addition, individuals with asthma were classified as to severity and control level of the disease by the Childhood Asthma Control Test (c-ACT) and Asthma Control Test (ACT) questionnaires. Participants with asthma also performed pre-and post-bronchodilator (BD) spirometry, with repetition of the 6MWT and ADL-Glittre post-BD tests.Results: A total of 145 individuals with asthma (AG) and 173 individuals without asthma (WAG) were included. There was no difference between sex, age, weight, height, and score-z of BMI in the groups. AG performed worse than WAG in all tests. In the 6MWT, the distance covered by AG was on average 74.04 meters lower than that of the WAG, in the ADL-Glittre the mean time of AG was 17.7% greater than that of the GSA, and 22.2% lower than that of the WAG for the pedometer evaluation. There was a difference in the IPAQ classification, with 13.9% of WAG participants being less active compared to 26.2% in AG. Of the participants with asthma, 130 were classified with controlled asthma (CA) and 15 with uncontrolled asthma (UCA). There was no difference in the level of physical activity and functional capacity between individuals with CA and UCA. Patients with UCA were the ones that presented the most response in the FEF25-75% post-BD measurement. Children and adolescents who presented FEF25-75% response in post-BD spirometry were the ones that obtained the greatest variation in the distance walked on the 6MWT, regardless the level of disease control.
Conclusion:All tests differed the level of physical activity and functional capacity between the asthma and non-asthma groups. The GA had a shorter distance and a longer time to perform the tests, a lower average of daily steps and a greater number of individuals classified as sedentary. Individuals with controlled and uncontrolled asthma were similar in relation to the level of physical activity and functional capacity. Response to FEF25-75% post-BD in spirometry showed relation to patients with uncontrolled asthma. Regardless of the level of asthma control, individuals responding to FEF25-75% in post-BD spirometry were those that presented the grea...