Asthma in adolescents and young adults: relationship with early childhood respiratory morbidity

Abstract

Aim: This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between respiratory illness in early childhood and asthma in adolescence and young adulthood (age group 10-23 years).

Method: The study population comprised 277 boys and 274 girls, born between 1967 and 1978 and registered from their birth to the year of study (1989) on the practice lists of the four general practices taking part in the continuous morbidity registration project (CMR) at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Details of all episodes of respiratory morbidity presented in the first five years of life and registered in the project were collected together with data on current respiratory status determined by means of a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, spirometry and a histamine-challenge test.

Results: Sixteen per cent of the study group were diagnosed as having asthma. Only asthma and acute bronchitis in early childhood were significantly associated with asthma at age 10-23 years.

Conclusion: Asthma in adolescence and young adulthood is related to asthma and acute bronchitis in early childhood. This study supports the view that this could be a causal relationship although an alternative explanation could be misclassification. The results provide no indication that upper respiratory tract infections are associated with the development of asthma in adolescence or young adulthood.