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Researchers identify link between childhood asthma, COPD

Asthma and childhood wheezy bronchitis appeared associated with increased risk for COPD and reduced ventilatory function, according to results of a 50-year cohort study.

“Childhood wheezy bronchitis/virus-associated wheeze [WB/VAW] increased the risk of COPD and was associated with reduced forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV₁] evident by the fifth decade. Previous studies suggest that this occurs very early in life, possibly in utero,” Nara Tagiyeva, MD, PhD, of the University of Aberdeen at the Institute of Applied Health Sciences in the United Kingdom, and colleagues wrote. “This has implications for the long-term management of children who develop WB/VAW. We have also confirmed that childhood asthma is associated with an increased risk [for] COPD and shown that adult onset wheeze results in more rapid decline in ventilatory function.”

Tagiyeva and colleagues followed 330 study participants, originally recruited in 1964 when they were aged 10 years to 15 years, and measured their FEV₁ and forced vital capacity (FVC) to determine the risk for COPD.

At the time of the current analysis, the mean age of study participants was 61 years. Thirty-eight had childhood asthma, 53 had childhood WB and 239 served as a control group.

Those with childhood asthma demonstrated an increased risk for COPD (OR = 6.37; 95% CI, 3.73–10.94), according to an adjusted multivariate analysis. Tagiyeva and colleagues also found childhood WB was associated with an increased risk for COPD (OR = 1.81; 95% CI, 1.12-2.91). Adult onset wheeze, which occurred in 57 patients in the control group over the follow-up period, was associated with FEV₁ decline.

Disclosure: This study was funded by Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.