Lessons from UK historical cohort studies of lower respiratory tract infections

In a systematic review, Andrew J Collaro and colleagues 1 Collaro AJ McElrea MS Marchant JM et al. The effect of early childhood respiratory infections and pneumonia on lifelong lung function: a systematic review. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2023; 7: 429-440 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar summarise evidence on the association between early childhood lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), including pneumonia, on lung function in later life. Of the included studies, the most reliable classification of LRTI was in prospective and historical cohorts, in which LRTI was recalled and recorded during early childhood. Early pneumonia was even more reliably ascertained in a cohort omitted from this systematic review, the Tucson Children's Respiratory Study, in which an LRTI diagnosis was confirmed by a paediatrician and radiologically. 2 Chan JY Stern DA Guerra S Wright AL Morgan WJ Martinez FD Pneumonia in childhood and impaired lung function in adults: a longitudinal study. Pediatrics. 2015; 135: 607-616 Crossref PubMed Scopus (124) Google Scholar The effect of early childhood respiratory infections and pneumonia on lifelong lung function: a systematic reviewEarly childhood respiratory infections, including pneumonia, are an important global public health issue, with more than 40 million annual cases resulting in approximately 650 000 deaths. A growing number of published studies have examined the effects of early childhood lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) or pneumonia on lung function, particularly as part of large early-life exposure studies. To our knowledge, there is no published systematic review of these data. We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for studies published between database inception and May 12, 2022. Full-Text PDF Lessons from UK historical cohort studies of lower respiratory tract infections – Authors' replyWe thank Professor Seif Shaheen for his interest in our systematic review.1 We agree that a strength of the Tucson Children's Respiratory Study2 is paediatrician and radiological confirmation of early childhood pneumonia. By contrast, most other reviewed studies relied on self-recorded or interviewer-recorded questionnaire data that were sometimes collected decades later. We acknowledge our incorrect exclusion of the Tuscon study which, like our systematic review, reported substantial lung function deficits of participants aged 11–26 years following early childhood pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs). Full-Text PDF