ArticleThorax2004
Childhood smoking is an independent risk factor for obstructive airways disease in women.
Article in Thorax, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence-based core information for health communication of tobacco control: The effect of smoking on risks of female disease.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review with meta-analysis of the epidemiological evidence relating smoking to COPD, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2011Pooled it
- Female smokers beyond the perimenopausal period are at increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Respiratory research · 2006Pooled it
- The effect of β-carotene on the mortality of male smokers is modified by smoking and by vitamins C and E: evidence against a uniform effect of nutrient.Journal of nutritional science · 2020Trial
- Effects of in utero tobacco exposure, age of smoking initiation, and environmental pollution on the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adulthood: a large scale prospective cohort study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2025Article
- Childhood cigarette smoking is associated with health-related quality of life in older US adults.Tobacco induced diseases · 2025Article
- Childhood Cigarette Smoking and Risk of COPD in Older United States Adults: A Nationally Representative Replication Study.Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (Miami, Fla.) · 2024Article
- Use of oral moist tobacco (snus) in puberty and its association with asthma in the population-based RHINESSA study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2024Article
- Age of Initiating Smoking: An Independent Predictor of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Later Life.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2023Article
- Childhood Cigarette Smoking and Risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Older U.S. Adults.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2023Article
- Implementation of guideline-based therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Differences between men and women veterans.Chronic respiratory disease · 2017Observational
- Call to action: improving primary care for women with COPD.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2017Review
- Article
- Effects of atorvastatin on smoking-induced alveolar injury in rat lungs.Current therapeutic research, clinical and experimental · 2009Article
- Incidence and determinants of moderate COPD (GOLD II) in male smokers aged 40-65 years: 5-year follow up.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2006Article
- Smoking particles enhance endothelin A and endothelin B receptor-mediated contractions by enhancing translation in rat bronchi.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2006Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess whether starting to smoke in childhood increases the risk of obstructive airways disease (OAD) in adult life.
methodsA retrospective cohort analysis was undertaken of 12 504 current and ex-smokers in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort. The main exposure was starting to smoke during childhood (age <16 years). Three definitions of OAD were used: doctor diagnosed asthma, doctor diagnosed bronchitis/emphysema, and "any OAD" (doctor diagnosed asthma or bronchitis/emphysema, or taking medication used in the treatment of OAD).
resultsChildhood smokers had significantly more pack years of exposure and poorer lung function than subjects who started to smoke in adulthood (>/=16 years). Compared with starting in adulthood, starting to smoke in childhood was associated with a greater risk of bronchitis/emphysema in female smokers (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.25 to 2.56) and ex-smokers of both sexes (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.55 in men and OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.85 in women), and of "any OAD" in female smokers (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.24 to 2.38) and male and female ex-smokers (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.40 in men and 1.34, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.57 in women). After adjustment for pack years, childhood smoking was associated with poorer lung function (FEV(1) 92.3% predicted in adult smokers and 89.5% in childhood smokers, p = 0.03) and a greater risk of bronchitis/emphysema (adjusted OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.08 to 2.24) and for "any OAD" (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.13) in female smokers but not in male and female ex-smokers.
conclusionStarting to smoke in childhood is associated with an increased risk of airways disease because of the extra pack years smoked. In women, childhood smoking is itself an independent risk factor for the development of airways disease.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.