Influence of early growth on childhood lung function assessed by magnetic resolution imaging and spirometry. The Generation R Study

Background: Preterm birth and lower birth weight increase the risk of asthma in childhood. The underlying mechanism might be lower lung function. Aim: To examine the association of early growth characteristics with childhood lung function measured by magnetic resolution imaging (MRI) and spirometry. Methods: This study was embedded in a population-based prospective cohort study among 640 children. Gestational age and birth weight were obtained from hospital or midwife records. At age 10 years, inspiratory total lung capacity (TLC) was measured by automatic segmentation (LunA, Polythecnic of Milan) of spirometry-controlled high-resolution MRI (3.0T GE750 MR scanner) images. FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, FEF25-75 and FEF75 were measured by spirometry. Adjusted multivariate linear regression analyses were applied. Results: TLC-MRI was positively correlated with FEV1, FVC, FEF25-75 and FEF75 (r: 0.70, 0.79, 0.23, and 0.16, respectively, p-values Conclusions: Children with a lower gestational-age adjusted birth weight have a lower TLC-MRI and spirometric lung function measures, which might explain the risk of asthma in childhood.