Association of an early-life growth adversity index with lung health across the life course

Potentially modifiable early-life growth conditions have been implicated in later-life lung health, but mechanisms are poorly understood. Members of our writing group recently developed and validated a simple quantitative index of early-life growth adversity that can be deployed in adulthood (PMID: 41258496). The proposed study seeks to apply this index in the Lifelines cohort to investigate whether early-life growth adversity is i) associated with later-life lung function impairment, systemic inflammation, and respiratory mortality and ii) associated with augmented susceptibility to cigarette smoking-associated lung function deficit, systemic inflammation, and respiratory mortality.