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Defining and Promoting Pediatric Pulmonary Health: Assessing Lung Function and Structure
Emily M DeBoer1, Wayne J Morgan2, Lesliam Quiros-Alcala3
1University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado.
Insights
Promoting lifelong respiratory health begins with understanding early lung development. Accurate measures are crucial for studying factors influencing lung function and preventing chronic respiratory diseases in children and adults.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pulmonology
- Respiratory Medicine
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Lifelong respiratory health depends on early-life respiratory system development.
- Childhood lung development influences adult lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) risk.
- Optimizing pediatric lung health offers significant personal and public health benefits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify critical gaps and opportunities in measuring pediatric lung structure and function.
- To explore environmental, genetic, metabolic, and immune factors affecting healthy lung development.
- To inform strategies for promoting optimal lung health from infancy through young adulthood.
Main Methods:
- This report summarizes findings from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) workshop.
- It highlights the need for precise, lifelong tracking of lung development measures.
- It emphasizes collaborative research involving pediatricians, subspecialists, patients, and scientists.
Main Results:
- Current measures of lung structure and function need improvement for tracking developmental trajectories.
- Key research areas include understanding influences on lung development and identifying biomarkers.
- There is a need for broadly generalizable studies applicable to diverse pediatric populations.
Conclusions:
- Accurate measurement of pediatric lung development is essential for understanding lifelong respiratory health.
- Further research is needed to elucidate mechanisms of healthy lung development and identify interventions.
- A multidisciplinary approach is required to advance the field and improve population lung health outcomes.
Abstract:
Lifelong respiratory health is rooted in the structural and functional development of the respiratory system in early life. Exposures and interventions antenatally through childhood can influence lung development into young adulthood, the life stage with the highest achievable lung function. Because early respiratory health sets the stage for adult lung function trajectories and risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, understanding how to promote lung health in children will have far reaching personal and population benefits. To achieve this, it is critical to have accurate and precise measures of structural and functional lung development that track throughout life stages. From this foundation, evaluation of environmental, genetic, metabolic, and immune mechanisms involved in healthy lung development can be investigated. These goals require the involvement of general pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, patients, and researchers to design and implement studies that are broadly generalizable and applicable to otherwise healthy and chronic disease populations. This National Institutes of Health workshop report details the key gaps and opportunities regarding lung function and structure.
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