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Early life growth and associations with lung function and bronchial hyperresponsiveness at 11-years of age
Ingvild Bruun Mikalsen1, Thomas Halvorsen2, Petur Benedikt Juliusson3
1Department of Paediatrics, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Insights
Children born small-for-gestational age (SGA) and early growth patterns impact lung function but do not increase bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR). Early life growth is linked to obstructive patterns, not BHR, in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric pulmonology
- Developmental origins of health and disease
Background:
- Low birth weight and being born small-for-gestational age (SGA) are associated with asthma and impaired lung function.
- Rapid childhood catch-up growth after poor intrauterine growth may increase respiratory disease risk.
- Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), a key asthma feature, has less studied links to fetal and early childhood growth.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between SGA, early childhood growth, and BHR at 11 years of age.
- To examine the relationship between SGA and early growth with lung function parameters at 11 years.
- To test the hypothesis that SGA or accelerated early growth increases BHR and alters lung function in children.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a subgroup of 468 children from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).
- Inclusion of data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN).
- Assessment of associations between SGA, early childhood weight (at 6 and 36 months), weight change, lung function, and BHR at 11 years of age.
Main Results:
- Weight at 6 months was positively associated with forced vital capacity and negatively with the FEV1/FVC ratio at 11 years.
- Similar patterns were observed for weight at 36 months and weight change from birth to 6 months.
- Neither SGA nor early childhood growth variables were associated with BHR at 11 years; however, early growth correlated with an obstructive lung function pattern.
Conclusions:
- Early life growth, including fetal growth restriction and early childhood weight gain, is associated with obstructive lung function patterns in children.
- These growth factors do not appear to be significant risk factors for developing BHR in childhood.
- The study suggests that while early growth influences lung function patterns, it does not predispose children to BHR.
Abstract:
Low birthweight and being born small-for-gestational age (SGA) are linked to asthma and impaired lung function. Particularly, poor intrauterine growth followed by rapid catch-up growth during childhood may predispose for respiratory disease. Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) is an essential feature of asthma, but how foetal and early childhood growth are associated with BHR is less studied. Our hypothesis was that children born SGA or with accelerated early life growth have increased BHR and altered lung function at 11-years of age. We studied the associations between SGA and early childhood growth with lung function and BHR at 11-years of age in a subgroup of 468 children from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), and included data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN). Weight at 6 months of age was positively associated with forced vital capacity (adjusted Beta: 0.121; 95% Confidence interval: 0.023, 0.219) and negatively associated with the ratio of forced expiratory flow in first second/forced vital capacity (-0.204; -0.317, -0.091) at 11-years of age. Similar patterns were found for weight at 36 months and for change in weight from birth to 6 months of age. SGA or other various variables of early childhood growth were not associated with BHR at 11-years of age. Early life growth was associated with an obstructive lung function pattern, but not with BHR in 11-year old children. Foetal growth restriction or weight gain during early childhood do not seem to be important risk factors for subsequent BHR in children.
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