‘Childhood exposure can lead to lung disease’

THREE QUARTERS of cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be traced back to exposure during childhood, a study has found.

COPD is the name for a group of lung conditions which cause breathing difficulties including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, which mainly affect middle-aged or older adults who smoke.

While smoking remains the biggest risk factor for COPD, the Australian study showed that childhood illnesses – such as asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and eczema – and exposures to parental smoking were also linked to the disease.

A second study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal suggested there could be a window of opportunity during childhood to reduce the risk of poor lung function in later life.

Both studies identified pathways of how lung function changed over life, which were associated with different risk factors and disease risk in later life.

The study authors believe these insights are important for lung disease prediction, prevention and treatment.

The first piece of research, by the University of Melbourne, saw 2,438 participants from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study tracked from childhood to the age of 53, making it the largest and longest-running study of its kind.

As a result, the authors said it would be important to reduce parental smoking, encourage immunisation and avoid smoking to promote healthy lung function pathways and minimise COPD risk, especially for people who had low childhood lung function or whose parents smoked.

Ensuring all people with asthma had treatment may also help preserve lung function. Professor Shyamali Dharmage, of the University of Melbourne, said: “These findings highlight the importance of preventing both early-life adverse exposures that could lead to poorer lung growth, and adult risk factors contributing to accelerated lung decline.”