Spirometric phenotypes from early childhood to young adulthood: a Chronic Airway Disease Early Stratification study

Background The prevalences of obstructive and restrictive spirometric phenotypes, and their relation to early-life risk factors from childhood to young adulthood remain poorly understood. The aim was to explore these phenotypes and associations with well-known respiratory risk factors across ages and populations in European cohorts. Methods We studied 49 334 participants from 14 population-based cohorts in different age groups (410, >10-15, >15-20, >20-25 years, and overall, 5-25 years). The obstructive phenotype was defined as forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) z-score less than the lower limit of normal (LLN), whereas the restrictive phenotype was defined as FEV1/FVC z-score >= LLN, and FVC z-score

Automated summary

This study investigated the prevalences of obstructive and restrictive spirometric phenotypes and their associations with respiratory risk factors in different age groups in European cohorts. Results suggest that early-life risk factors may be related to different spirometric phenotypes across ages.