Contracting an infection such as bronchitis or pneumonia as a child is associated with a higher risk of death from a respiratory illness as an adult, a new study has suggested.
Research shows that suffering a lung infection before the age of two could dramatically enhance the chances of an early death.
Those who had a lower respiratory tract infection as children were almost twice as likely to die prematurely between the ages of 26 and 73 years from respiratory diseases.
The findings were made regardless of smoking status, experts have explained.
The study shows that people who had an LRTI by the age of two were 93% more likely to die prematurely from respiratory disease as adults, despite the overall number of premature deaths from respiratory disease was small.
Symptoms of pneumonia include a cough, a shortness of breath, a high temperature, chest pain, an aching body and loss of appetite.
According to the British Lung Foundation, more than 220,000 people are struck down with pneumonia every year in the UK.
Dr James Allinson, the Study lead author from Imperial College London, said tackling childhood poverty can repair some of the damage.
They looked at data from over 3,500 people over the age of 73 between 1972 and 2019.
Dr Allinson said: “Current preventative measures for adult respiratory disease mainly focus on adult lifestyle risk factors such as smoking.
“Linking one in five of adult respiratory deaths to common infections many decades earlier in childhood shows the need to target risk well before adulthood.
“To prevent the perpetuation of existing adult health inequalities we need to optimise childhood health, not least by tackling childhood poverty.
“Evidence suggesting the early life origins of adult chronic diseases also helps challenge the stigma that all deaths from diseases such as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are related to lifestyle factors.”
The study, published in The Lancet, outlined that of the 3,589 people in the study, a quarter (913 people) had an LRTI before they reached the age of two.
By the end of 2019, 19 per cent had died before the age of 73.
Among these 674 premature adult deaths, 8 per cent of people died from respiratory disease.
Professor Rebecca Bailey, of Loughborough University, said: “Efforts to reduce childhood infections could help tackle premature deaths from respiratory disease later in life.
“We hope that this study will help guide the strategies of international health organisations in tackling this issue.”
