The relationship between infant lung function and the risk of wheeze in the preschool years

Katharine Pike (1) , Matthew Rose-Zerilli (2) , Emma Caffrey-Osvald (3) , Hazel Inskip (4) , Keith M. Godfrey (4, 5) , Sarah Crozier (4) , Graham Roberts (3, 6) , Joanna Clough (3) , John W. Holloway (2) , Jane Lucas (3, 6)

1 Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Division
2 Human Genetics Division
3 Infection, Inflammation & Immunity Division
4 Univeristy of Southampton
5 University of Southampton
6 University of Southampton

Rationale There is evidence that perinatal lung development predicts childhood wheeze. However, very few studies have examined whether preschool wheeze is associated with lower premorbid lung function in early infancy, and as yet there is no information relating atopic and non-atopic preschool wheeze to early lung development. Objective To examine the association between premorbid infant lung function and preschool wheeze, and to explore associations with atopic and non-atopic wheeze phenotypes. Methods Infant lung function was measured in 147 healthy term infants aged 5-14 weeks. Rapid thoracoabdominal compression was performed during tidal breathing and at raised volume to measure maximal expiratory flow at functional residual capacity (V'maxFRC) and forced expiratory volume in 0.4 sec (FEV0.4). Atopic status was determined by skin prick testing at 3 years and wheeze ascertained from parental questionnaires (1 and 3 years). Measurements and Main Results Lower early infancy V'maxFRC was associated with wheeze in both the first and third years of life (p=0.002 and p=0.006, respectively). Lower early infancy FEV0.4 was associated with wheeze in the first year (p=0.03). Compared to non-atopic children who did not wheeze, non-atopic children who wheezed in their third year of life had lower FEV0.4, (p=0.02), whilst FEV0.4 values of atopic children who wheezed were not significantly different (p=0.4). Conclusions Lower premorbid infant lung function was present in infants who subsequently wheezed during the first and third years of life. Lower FEV0.4 in early infancy was associated with non-atopic wheeze but not atopic wheeze at 3 years of age.

Mots clés: Medicine

Katharine Pike, Matthew Rose-Zerilli, Emma Caffrey-Osvald, Hazel Inskip, Keith M. Godfrey, et al.. The relationship between infant lung function and the risk of wheeze in the preschool years. Pediatric Pulmonology, 2010, 46 (1), pp.75. ⟨10.1002/ppul.21327⟩. ⟨hal-00599813⟩