Table 3. The associations of early life factors with lung function decline (mutually adjusted models).
| Early life factors | Adjusted difference inFEV1 decline † | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in ml ‡ | 95% CI | p-value | |||
| Season of birth | (winter vs. other) | -2.04 | -3.29 | -0.80 | 0.001 |
| Maternal age | (>31 vs <31 yrs.) | -1.82 | -3.14 | -0.49 | 0.007 |
| Maternal smoking | (yes vs. no) | -1.82 | -3.30 | -0.34 | 0.016 |
| Paternal smoking | (yes vs. no) | 0.56 | -0.57 | 1.69 | 0.332 |
| Severe respiratory infection | (yes vs. no) | -0.57 | -2.42 | 1.29 | 0.549 |
| Urban living environment | (urban vs. rural) | 0.62 | -0.84 | 2.08 | 0.408 |
| Daycare attendance | (yes vs. no) | 3.98 | 2.78 | 5.18 | 0.000 |
| Sharing bedroom | (yes vs. no) | -0.42 | -1.57 | 0.74 | 0.481 |
| Family pet (<5 years) | (yes vs. no) | 0.97 | -0.16 | 2.09 | 0.091 |
| Older siblings ≥2 | (≥2 vs. <2) | 0.56 | -1.00 | 2.12 | 0.479 |
| Younger siblings <2 | (<2 vs. ≥2) | -2.61 | -3.85 | -1.38 | 0.000 |
† Change in FEV1 (ml) by follow up year—a negative coefficient implies more rapid FEV1 decline and a positive coefficient implies less rapid decline.
‡ Estimates from mixed-effects linear regression, mutually adjusted for all other early life factors investigated, and for sex, mid age, mid age square, mid BMI, change in BMI (between survey 1 and 2), height, pack years smoked, age at highest education, European region (random effect)
CI = Confidence Interval