Effect of acute respiratory infections in infancy on pulmonary function test at 3 years of age: a prospective birth cohort study

Kumar, Prawin; Mukherjee, Aparna; Randev, Shivani; Medigeshi, Guruprasad R; Jat, Kana Ram; Kapil, Arti; Lodha, Rakesh; Kabra, Sushil Kumar

In our cohort, ARI with wheezing during infancy were not associated with IPFT indices in children at 3 years of age. A study from Tucson, Arizona, had observed that wheezing in less than 3 years of age lead to reduced FEV 1.0 , FEV 1.0 /FVC and FEF 25-75 through the age of 16 years. 35 Another study from Finland used impulse oscillometry in 103 children at 5-7 years of age with history of bronchiolitis with wheezing in the first 6 months of life. They concluded that airway resistance or reactance at 5 Hz was abnormal in 20% of children as compared with normal Finnish height-based reference range, but the change was only transient as only 1% of them had persistent abnormality till preschool age. 30 These studies indicate that wheezing during infancy may affect PFT in the long run; we need to follow-up our cohort further to document the effect of wheezing on PFT.