Navaratnam, Vidya

Forrester, Douglas

Chang, Anne B

Dharmage, Shyamali C

Singh, Gurmeet

2024-02-01

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Despite the high burden of respiratory disease amongst Indigenous populations, prevalence data on spirometric deficits and its determinants are limited. We estimated the prevalence of abnormal spirometry in young Indigenous adults and determined its relationship with perinatal and early life factors. METHODS: We used prospectively collected data from the Australian Aboriginal Birth Cohort, a birth cohort of 686 Indigenous Australian singletons. We calculated the proportion with abnormal spirometry (z-score <-1.64) and FEV(1) below the population mean (FEV(1) % predicted 0 to -2SD) measured in young adulthood. We evaluated the association between perinatal and early life exposures with spirometry indices using linear regression. RESULTS: Fifty-nine people (39.9%, 95%CI 31.9, 48.2) had abnormal spirometry; 72 (49.3%, 95%CI 40.9, 57.7) had a FEV(1) below the population mean. Pre-school hospitalisations for respiratory infections, younger maternal age, being overweight in early childhood and being born remotely were associated with reduced FEV(1) and FVC (absolute, %predicted and z-score). The association between maternal age and FEV(1) and FVC were stronger in women, as was hospitalization for respiratory infections before age 5. Being born remotely had a stronger association with reduced FEV(1) and FVC in men. Participants born in a remote community were over 6 times more likely to have a FEV(1) below the population mean (odds ratio [OR] 6.30, 95%CI 1.93, 20.59). CONCLUSION: Young Indigenous adults have a high prevalence of impaired lung function associated with several perinatal and early life factors, some of which are modifiable with feasible interventions.

Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Child Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Faculty of Health Science, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Centre for Respiratory Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Department of Respiratory Medicine, Queensland Children's Hospital, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Respirology. 2024 Feb;29(2):166-175. doi: 10.1111/resp.14639. Epub 2023 Dec 14.

0000-0002-2914-8012

0000-0001-5268-6866

0000-0002-1331-3706

0000-0001-6063-1937

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38096035/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/12650

29

Male

Humans

Female

Child, Preschool

Young Adult

Adult

Cohort Studies

Australia/epidemiology

Spirometry

*Indigenous Peoples

Lung

*Respiratory Tract Infections

Forced Expiratory Volume

Vital Capacity

Association between perinatal and early life exposures and lung function in Australian Indigenous young adults: The Aboriginal Birth Cohort study.

Journal Article

Publication