Early life origins of lung ageing: A study of lung function decline the ECRHS and NFBC1966 cohorts

<b>Objective:</b> To determine whether early life factors associated with poor lung growth and submaximal attained lung function contribute to accelerated lung function decline later in life. <b>Methods:</b> Participants in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) and the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966) with lung function measured in a first (n=10,971), second (n=7,981) and third wave (n=4,849), aged 20 – 68 years, were included. Mean annual decline in maximum forced expired volume in 1 second (FEV₁) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were main outcomes. Information on early life factors was provided by standardized interviews and questionnaires. We estimated the effect of early life factors including maternal age, parental smoking, season of birth, parental asthma and respiratory infections using mixed effects models, adjusted for age, FEV₁ and FVC at baseline, height, and smoking habits. <b>Results:</b> Decline in FEV₁ was accelerated in women born of a mother with asthma (β = 2.4 ml; 95% CI 0.6-4.3) or who smoked during pregnancy (1.9; 0.2-3.6), and in men having a father with asthma (3.5; 0.2-6.9) or born by Cesarean section (7.9; 1.6-14.2). Accelerated decline in FVC was associated with paternal asthma in men (4.3; 0.1-8.5) and early menarche (&lt;12 years) in women (2.4; 0.4-4.4). No statistically significant effect on lung function decline was found for other investigated early life factors. <b>Conclusion:</b> Early life risk factors contribute to an accelerated lung function decline with ageing, following sex-specific patterns. Decline in FEV₁ versus FVC showed slightly different patterns. The study is part of the ALEC project, funded from the H2020 grant.no. 633212