Loading...
How do respiratory tract infections during early life affect later lung function? As the issue remains controversial, researchers conducted a meta-analysis from 38 European birth cohorts involving 150,000 children born between 1989 and 2013, for whom information on recent respiratory tract infections at the ages of 6 months and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years was available. Lung function (converted into sex-, age-, height-, and ethnicity-adjusted Z-scores based on Global Lung Initiative reference values) and asthma were evaluated at school age.
Upper and lower respiratory tract infections were most prevalent at age 1 year (mean, 63% [upper] and 23% [lower]) and declined thereafter to age 5 (43% and 15%). Lower, but not upper, respiratory tract infec…