LAUSR

Greater infant weight gain is associated with lower lung function and increased risk of childhood asthma. Detailed individual childhood growth patterns might be better predictors of childhood respiratory morbidity than the difference in two measurements of weight and height. We assessed the associations of early childhood growth patterns with lung function and asthma at the age of 10 years and whether child’s current body mass index (BMI) influenced any association. In 4,435 children from the Generation R birth cohort study in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, we derived peak height and weight growth velocity, body mass index at adiposity peak, and age at adiposity peak from longitudinally measured growth data in the first 3 years of life. At 10 years, spirometry was performed including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and FEV1/FVC. Current asthma was assessed by questionnaires. Per standard deviation score, greater peak weight velocity was associated with higher FVC (z-score 0.03 [95% CI, 0.02 to 0.05]) but lower FEV1/FVC (-0.05 [95% CI, -0.07 to -0.04]). Greater body mass index at adiposity peak was associated with higher FVC (0.14 [0.10 to 0.18]) and FEV1 (0.06 [0.02 to 0.10]) but lower FEV1/FVC (-0.15 [-0.19 to -0.11]). Child’s current BMI partly explained the associations of PWV and FEV1/FVC and of BMIAP with FVC and FEV1/FVC. Peak height velocity and age at adiposity peak were not consistently associated with impaired lung function or asthma. Peak weight velocity and body mass index at adiposity peak were associated with lower lung function measures at age 10 years, not asthma, independently of child’s current weight status.