Association between conditions found to be stronger among women than men, Danish research showed
Having an overweight or obese trajectory during childhood is associated with an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adulthood, new research has shown.
The study, which analysed data from more than 270,000 people, found that the link between high body mass index (BMI) in childhood, and the development of COPD in later life, was stronger among women than men.
The research was conducted by clinicians at The Centre for Clinical Research and Prevention, Copenhagen University Hospital, and its findings will be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity in Madrid in May.
“Having a BMI trajectory above average in childhood may increase the risk of subsequent COPD,” the study’s authors said. “Thus, our results suggest that overweight during this early period of life is an indicator of risk for the development of COPD.”
The authors included data from Danish children born between 1930 and 1982, and who had between two and 12 weight and height measurements between the ages of 6 and 15.
The authors then followed the individuals from 1977 to 2022 in national health care registers and identified those with a diagnosis of COPD from age 40 onwards.
The authors found that across the follow-up period 18,227 women and 15,789 men were diagnosed with COPD. Compared to women with an average childhood BMI trajectory, risks of chronic COPD were 10 per cent higher for women who had an above-average trajectory, 26 per cent higher for women who had an overweight trajectory and 65 per cent higher for women with an obesity BMI trajectory.
Compared to men with an average childhood BMI trajectory, risks of COPD were 7 per cent higher for men with an above-average trajectory, 16 per cent higher for men with an overweight trajectory and 40 per cent higher for men with an obesity trajectory.
In contrast, a lower risk of future COPD was observed only for women with a below average childhood BMI trajectory – nine per cent lower compared to women with an average childhood BMI trajectory.
“Parental smoking and socioeconomic status are potential and unmeasured confounders in this study,” the authors noted.
“However, since the effect estimates were consistent across birth cohorts, despite various medical, cultural, and socioeconomic changes (including smoking patterns) over the study period, the bias is considered limited meaning that overweight and obesity in childhood are likely to be independent indicators of risk for COPD in adulthood.”