A study in Australia suggests that reduced lung function in infancy was associated with wheezing beyond childhood at 18 years of age, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.
Abnormal airway function is characteristic of asthma and chronic obstructive airways disease, and other studies have suggested that reduced lung function is already apparent in childhood and tracks through adulthood. However, the relationship between the age of onset of airway dysfunction and wheeze, a symptom of obstructive airways disease, has not been clarified, the authors write in the study background.
The study by David Mullane, M.D., of University College Cork, Ireland, and colleagues included participants from a birth cohort who had been followed from one month to 18 years. At age 18 years, 150 participants were assessed and 37 participants (25 percent) had recent wheeze and 20 (13 percent) were diagnosed with asthma, according to the results.
"To our knowledge, this study is the first to report an association between reduced lung function in infancy and wheeze beyond childhood," the authors note.
In the study, a total of 143 participants were categorized as having persistent wheezemaxFRC, mean reduction 43 percent). Compared with the no-wheeze group, persistent wheeze was also associated with atopy (a predisposition to allergic reactions) in infancy (odds ratio, 7.1); maternal asthma (odds ratio, 6.8) and active smoking (odds ratio, 4.8), according to the results.