The health risks of childhood obesity are numerous and well-established, but a recent study examines a concern that might not be so obvious. Researchers indicate that obesity can trigger flare-ups of asthma.

Published last month in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the study suggests that heavier kids wind up having to take more medications to control their asthma than peers who aren’t overweight.

Like the epidemic of childhood obesity, asthma rates have skyrocketed in recent decades. Asthma rates for children age 5 or younger increased more than 160 percent between 1980 and 1994. Nearly 4 million children have had an asthma attack in the last year.