ArticleThe European respiratory journal2023
Preterm birth and asthma and COPD in adulthood: a nationwide register study from two Nordic countries.
Article in The European respiratory journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- General health and social outcomes 50 years after exposure to antenatal betamethasone: follow-up of a randomised controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2024Trial
- Pre-COPD, PRISm, and COPD in young adults born preterm.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2026Article
- Postnatal growth and childhood asthma in preterm and full-term twins: A cohort study.Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology · 2026Article
- Healthcare journey of preterm-born adults with respiratory disease: the EMPOWER survey.ERJ open research · 2026Article
- Neonatal critical illness is associated with pancytopenia development in childhood.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Applying spirometry phenotypes to a longitudinal cohort born very preterm.BMJ open respiratory research · 2026Article
- Breastfeeding in term and preterm infants with and without growth restriction: A 50-year analysis of incidence and duration.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2026Article
- The Pathophysiology of Spontaneous Preterm Birth: Emerging Mechanisms Reviewed by the Preterm Birth International Collaborative.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2026Review
- Association between asthma and juvenile idiopathic arthritis in children in the United States: a propensity score weighted cross-sectional study.Pediatric rheumatology online journal · 2026Article
- Follow-up of neonatal chronic respiratory disease: an update based on the current evidence.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Review
- The role of CC16 in the associations of preterm birth with lung function and asthma in adult life.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2026Article
- Health and Development of Children Born Moderate and Late Preterm and Early Term at Age 10 in French Birth Cohorts ELFE and EPIPAGE 2.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2026Article
- Inhibition of Rho-kinase restores impaired relaxation of airway smooth muscle in rat pups exposed to neonatal hyperoxia.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Lung function in adults born with very low birth weight from young to mid-adulthood.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Longitudinal changes in cardiopulmonary outcomes of adults born extremely prematurely: United Kingdom Oscillation Study.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Atopic diseases in pediatric population: prematurity and small for gestational age.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Caffeine Protects Against Hyperoxia-Induced Structural Lung Injury and Restores Alveolar Development in Neonatal Rats.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- From Womb to Tomb: A Life-Course Perspective on the Origins of Non-communicable Diseases.Cureus · 2025Review
- A Case of Asymptomatic Juvenile Emphysema.JMA journal · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPreterm birth affects lungs in several ways but few studies have follow-up until adulthood. We investigated the association of the entire spectrum of gestational ages with specialist care episodes for obstructive airway disease (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)) at age 18-50 years.
methodsWe used nationwide registry data on 706 717 people born 1987-1998 in Finland (4.8% preterm) and 1 669 528 born 1967-1999 in Norway (5.0% preterm). Care episodes of asthma and COPD were obtained from specialised healthcare registers, available in Finland for 2005-2016 and in Norway for 2008-2017. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for having a care episode with either disease outcome.
resultsOdds of any obstructive airway disease in adulthood for those born at <28 or 28-31 completed weeks were 2-3-fold of those born full term (39-41 completed weeks), persisting after adjustments. For individuals born at 32-33, 34-36 or 37-38 weeks, the odds were 1.1- to 1.5-fold. Associations were similar in the Finnish and the Norwegian data and among people aged 18-29 and 30-50 years. For COPD at age 30-50 years, the OR was 7.44 (95% CI 3.49-15.85) for those born at <28 weeks, 3.18 (95% CI 2.23-4.54) for those born at 28-31 weeks and 2.32 (95% CI 1.72-3.12) for those born at 32-33 weeks. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia in infancy increased the odds further for those born at <28 and 28-31 weeks.
conclusionPreterm birth is a risk factor for asthma and COPD in adulthood. The high odds of COPD call for diagnostic vigilance when adults born very preterm present with respiratory symptoms.
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