Multiple longitudinal cohort studies (studies following large groups of people over long periods of time) have found that people living with persistently poor lung function from a young age are at higher risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) later in life.
Being able to predict high-risk patterns of lung function could help us identify people at risk of COPD and potentially prevent the disease from developing. This study will invite participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) identified as having persistently low lung function to undergo tests designed to assess the structure and function of their lungs.
We will compare their results to those of ALSPAC participants who have not been found to have persistently low lung function.
Project aims
We will:
Use test results to explore differences in lung structure and function between participant groups
Assess possible underlying causes of low lung function
Evaluate whether our data can be used to identify those at risk of developing COPD
What we hope to achieve
We hope that understanding structural and functional differences in the lungs of people with persistently low lung function will help us find predictors of later lung function decline and COPD.
We are also planning on conducting larger scale trials to explore whether the tests we use could help identify people with low lung function. Our eventual aim is to use this approach to identify candidates for an early-phase trial of an intervention targeting treatable traits in airways disease.
