Childhood Bronchitis may Negatively Affect Lung Health in Middle Age

People who suffered from bronchitis at least once before the age of 7 are more likely to develop lung disease in later life, reports a new study. The study was presented at the 'virtual' European Respiratory Society International Congress.

"However, rather than chronic bronchitis, the lung diseases they suffer from by the age of 53 were usually asthma and pneumonia", stated study author Jennifer Perret from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

‘Bronchitis, as a kid, can predict worse lung health in middle age. ’

The study's findings come from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study, which followed around 8,583 people born in Tasmania in 1961 and started school in the year 1968.

Using a spirometer, the researchers investigated the participant's lung function capacity. The parents were asked to fill a questionnaire that asked whether the kids had suffered bronchitis or asthma by the age of seven.

The research participants were followed up for an average of 46 years.

The researchers categorized participants into four groups: the reference group with no episodes, the non-recurrent group with one and five episodes lasting less than a month, the recurrent group with six episodes lasting less than a month, the protracted recurrent group with six or more episodes lasting an average of a month or more.

People who had recurrent, protracted recurrent and non-recurrent episodes of bronchitis as kids had a 2-fold, 3.2-fold, and 1.4-fold increased risk of pneumonia, respectively.

"However, there was no statistically significant connection between childhood bronchitis and chronic bronchitis in middle-age, and further study would be informative," Perret added.

Source: Medindia