Infection with lower respiratory tract infections in early childhood is associated with a higher risk of death from respiratory disease in adulthood.
A study in partnership with researchers at University College London and Loughborough University found that children who develop lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) such as bronchitis or pneumonia are almost twice as likely as adults to die prematurely from respiratory diseases by the age of two. . The study found that the rate of premature death from respiratory disease was about 2% for those who had lower respiratory tract infections in early childhood, compared to about 1% for those who didn’t. Loughbrough University writes that the results remained the same after adjusting for socioeconomic factors and smoking status.
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Chronic respiratory diseases are a major public health problem, accounting for approximately 3.9 million deaths in 2017, or 7 percent of all deaths worldwide. Most of these deaths were caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of lung diseases that cause respiratory problems such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Previous studies have linked lower respiratory tract infection in infants with the development of adult lung function, asthma, and COPD, but it is unclear whether there is an association with early death in adulthood. The first of its kind to span 73 years, this study provides the best evidence to date that respiratory health in early life influences mortality later in life.
The findings challenge the misconception that adult deaths from respiratory disease are determined solely by adult behaviors such as smoking. The researchers say this highlights the need to prevent respiratory infections in children and to improve children’s health through targeted public health and healthcare interventions such as vaccines, improved living conditions and better diagnosis and treatment of underlying diseases.
Dr James Allinson, lead author of the study, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said: “Adults with common infections that occurred in childhood years ago show the need to reduce risk long before adulthood. We need to optimize children’s health, especially by addressing child poverty, in order to make health non-sustainable. Evidence that adult chronic diseases occur at an early age also helps break the stigma that lifestyle factors are responsible for all deaths from diseases such as COPD.”
Professor Rebecca Hardy, one of the study’s authors, from Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, said: “The results of our study suggest that efforts to reduce childhood respiratory infections can make a difference in addressing premature deaths from respiratory diseases later on. We hope it will guide their organizations’ strategies to deal with this problem.”
The study uses data from a nationwide UK cohort study called the National Health and Development Survey (NPH), which included people born in 1946, to examine the health and death records of 3,589 people through 2019. Of the 3,589 participants in the study, 913 had a lower respiratory tract infection before the age of two.
Professor Nish Chaturvedi, co-author of the study and NPHW from University College London, said: “This study highlights the importance of studying whole life. As the UK’s longest nationally representative cohort study, NPHW is uniquely positioned to look at early life. factors that can lead to death from respiratory diseases in later life.”
Improvements in child health and healthcare since then may have led to better outcomes for children born today, as the results show that health disparities among adults born in the 1940s stem from childhood. However, the evidence for the potentially lifelong consequences of poor child health highlights the need for renewed efforts to prevent LRTIs among children.
The researchers used a statistical model to estimate the association between respiratory infection in early childhood and premature death from respiratory diseases in adulthood, adjusting for various factors that may affect risk.
An analysis adjusted for childhood socioeconomic background and smoking status showed that children with IDPN by age two were 93% more likely to die of respiratory disease early in adulthood than those without IDPN by age two. This corresponded to 2.1% of the adult premature death rate from respiratory disease among those with STI in early childhood, compared with 1.1% among those who did not report an STI before the age of two years.
Researchers say this increased risk is potentially responsible for 179,188 premature deaths, or one in five deaths from respiratory disease, in England and Wales between 1972 and 2019.
By comparison, adult respiratory deaths due to smoking are responsible for three out of five respiratory deaths or 507,223 additional deaths in England and Wales over the same period.
The researchers note that despite their adjustments, there may be other unreported risk factors such as parental smoking and preterm birth. They also note that social changes during the lifetime study may have led to changes in lung function in subsequent cohorts, altering the results.
Previously Focus He wrote why we catch cold more often in winter. It’s all about the nose.
Source: Focus
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