Understanding the childhood origins of asthma and COPD: insights from birth cohorts and studies across the lifespan.

Birth cohorts have identified modifiable risk factors for asthma and respiratory health in children and adults, demonstrating the important role and pathways through which early life events influence not only child outcomes, but also adult health, disease and mortality. This is a focused literature update from 2021-2024 that summarizes birth cohort studies across the lifespan that contribute to our understanding of risk factors for and the childhood origins of asthma and COPD that may inform prevention efforts. We conclude that there are critical periods of developmental plasticity and susceptibility during which early life events and exposures likely have the greatest impact on the development of asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease phenotypes, and that there are important prenatal and early childhood exposures, which if modified, might be candidates for improving respiratory health across the lifespan. Birth cohorts have been and will continue to be critical to advancing our understanding of lung health and disease across the lifespan, including asthma and COPD. As child mortality declines and the human population ages, data from birth cohort studies are needed to inform strategies for optimizing healthy longevity, including the investment in understanding the lifelong consequences of adverse prenatal and early childhood exposures.