Clinically remitted childhood asthma is associated with airflow obstruction in middle-aged adults

While adult asthma has been shown to be a risk factor for COPD, the effect of remitted childhood asthma on adult lung function has not been clarified. The aim of this study was to examine whether remitted childhood asthma is a risk factor for airflow obstruction in a middle-aged general population.

A total of 9896 participants (range: 35-60 years) from five healthcare centres were included in the study. The participants were classified into four categories based on the presence or absence of physician-diagnosed childhood/adulthood asthma and asthma symptoms as follows: healthy controls (n = 9154), remitted childhood asthma (n = 287), adulthood-onset asthma (n = 354) and childhood-adulthood asthma (n = 101).

The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was similar in both the participants with remitted childhood asthma and healthy controls. The prevalence of airflow obstruction (forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁ )/forced vital capacity (FVC) < 0.7) was significantly higher in the participants with remitted childhood asthma, those with adult-onset asthma and those with childhood-adulthood asthma (5.2%, 14.4% and 16.8%, respectively) compared with healthy controls (2.2%). Multivariate logistic regression showed that remitted childhood asthma was independently associated with airflow obstruction. Among the participants with remitted childhood asthma, ever-smokers had significantly lower FEV₁ /FVC than never-smokers.

Clinically remitted childhood asthma is associated with airflow obstruction in middle-aged adults. Smoking and remitted childhood asthma may be additive factors for the development of airflow obstruction.