A Brazilian study involving nearly 900 participants under the age of 40 has indicated that premature lung aging is not only linked to smoking, but also to factors such as obesity and systemic inflammation. These two conditions are also associated with an increased risk of developing COPD.
According to a news release, the study found that smoking had the greatest impact on lung function and was associated with an average reduction in lung function of nearly 2% over the 12 years analyzed.
Researchers also found that systemic inflammation, measured by C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in the blood, was also associated with lung function decline. Each 1 mg/dL increase in CRP corresponded to a 0.76% decline in lung function. In cases of obesity, each 1 kg/m2 increase in body mass index resulted in additional 0.28% decline in lung function.
These and other findings from the paper, “Longitudinal Study of the Influence of Obesity, C-reactive Protein, and Smoking on FEV1 Decline in Young Adulthood,” were published in BMC Pulmonary Medicine.
Lung function of the participants in the study was measured at two points in time: once between the ages of 23 and 25, and again between the ages of 37 and 38.
“The findings reinforce what previous studies with smaller cohorts had already shown: in addition to the effects of smoking, systemic metabolic and inflammatory processes can play an important role in the deterioration of lung function, even in younger individuals without diagnosed respiratory diseases,” said Elcio Oliveira Vianna, PhD, a professor at the Ribeirão Prato School of Medicine at the University of São Paulo and coordinator of the study.
Dr. Vianna added that systemic inflammation originating in other organs or parts of the body, such as adipocyte inflammation in cases of obesity, can interfere with the lungs.
“Low-grade systemic inflammation, already known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, also affects and damages the lungs,” he said. “This constant inflammatory bombardment, even if subtle, as in the case of obesity, contributes to lung tissue damage over time and can trigger premature lung aging.”
According to Dr. Vianna, this research is unusual because COPD is not often associated with obesity. In fact, most COPD patients tend to be thin due to a loss of appetite and the high caloric expenditure as a result of the effort required to breathe.
“That’s why it was important for our study to demonstrate that, like other systemic inflammations, [obesity] can trigger the disease,” he said.
