Open access
Generational changes in lung function in adults from several world regions: results from the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study.
Ji-Xuan Ma
P. Burney
David M. Mannino
C. Janson
Thórarinn Gíslason
D. Obaseki
R. Jõgi
V. Q. Santofimio
J. Potts
A. Rashid
Gregory E. Erhabor
Rune Nielsen
A. Kocabaş
A. Nafees
Rana Ahmed
M. Denguezli
Cristina Bárbara
João Cardoso
H. Dias
Fatima Rodrigues
D. Agarwal
S. Juvekar
F. Franssen
T. Seemungal
Kevin J. Mortimer
M. El Biaze
P. Mahesh
P. Koul
M. Studnicka
André F. S. Amaral
Medicine
Abstract
This study estimated birth cohort effects on lung function using BOLD (Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease) data from 28 569 adults born between 1902 and 1976 across 41 sites in 34 countries. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and the FEV1/FVC increased across successive birth cohorts in both high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with mean values rising steadily with later birth year. In fully adjusted models, FVC increased by 21.4 mL, FEV1 by 24.6 mL and FEV1/FVC by 0.25% per birth year. These positive associations were consistent across sex, smoking status and country-income subgroups (HICs and LMICs).