HOSPITALIZATION FOR LUNG-DISEASE IN EARLY-CHILDHOOD AND ASTHMA SYMPTOMS IN YOUNG ADULTHOOD

Longitudinal studies have reported an association between early childh ood lung disease and adult respiratory disease. This issue has not bee n addressed in the Nordic countries. We studied the association betwee n hospitalization for lung disease in early childhood and asthma in yo ung adulthood in a Norwegian population sample, while estimating the a ttributable fraction of childhood hospitalization. A population-based survey in Bergen, Norway included a random sample of 4300 subjects age d 20-44 years, of whom 80% responded. The effect of hospitalization fo r lung disease before the age of 2 years on asthma in adulthood was an alysed by logistic and polytomous logistic regressions, adjusting for related variables. Adjusted attributable fractions were estimated from these models. The risk for different measures of asthma was significa ntly increased in the 103 persons reporting childhood hospitalization (airways symptoms. OR from 1.9 to 2.9; asthma medication: OR = 2.8). T he associations with airways symptoms were stronger in women (OR from 2.6 to 5.3) than in men (OR from 1.4 to 2.4). Given a causal associati on, adjusted attributable fractions showed that childhood lung disease causing hospitalization explained 4% of asthma symptoms. Early childh ood hospitalization for lung disease was related to asthma symptoms in young Norwegian adults, more strongly in women than in men. Only a mi nor proportion of asthma symptoms in this age group could be related t o hospitalization for lung disease in early childhood.