A new large study from Denmark has found that children who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop a serious lung disease called COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) when they grow up. The findings will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) 2025 in Malaga, Spain.
COPD is a long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. It usually affects older adults and is often linked to smoking.
However, more recent research is beginning to show that other things—like air pollution, working conditions, and even childhood health—can also play a role. This new study looks closely at how body weight in childhood may affect lung health many years later.
The research team, led by Frida Richter and Professor Jennifer Lyn Baker from the Copenhagen University Hospital, wanted to understand if a person’s body size during childhood could be linked to their risk of getting COPD later in life.
To do this, the researchers looked at health data from over 276,000 children born in Denmark between 1930 and 1982. The children were part of the Copenhagen School Health Records Register, a large collection of school health records.
These records included measurements of height and weight taken between the ages of 6 and 15. Each child had between two and twelve measurements recorded during those years.
Using these numbers, the researchers grouped the children into five different body weight categories, or “trajectories,” based on how their body mass index (BMI) changed over time. These categories were: below average, average, above average, overweight, and obesity.
Then, the researchers tracked the health of these people from 1977 until 2022 using Denmark’s national health system. They looked for people who were diagnosed with COPD after the age of 40.
During the study period, more than 34,000 people were diagnosed with COPD—18,227 women and 15,789 men. The researchers found that people who had a higher-than-average BMI during childhood were more likely to develop COPD as adults.
For example, women who had an above-average BMI as children were 10% more likely to get COPD compared to women with an average BMI. That risk rose to 26% for those who were overweight and 65% for those who were obese as children.
For men, the increase in risk was a bit lower: 7% higher for those with an above-average BMI, 16% higher for overweight, and 40% higher for obese boys compared to those with an average BMI.
Interestingly, girls who had a below-average BMI as children had a 9% lower chance of getting COPD later, compared to girls with average BMI. This trend was not clearly seen in boys.
The researchers pointed out that some other factors—like whether a child’s parents smoked or what kind of jobs the family had—were not included in the study. These factors might also affect a person’s chance of getting COPD.
However, because the results were similar across different decades, despite big changes in smoking rates and medical care, the researchers believe the link between childhood weight and COPD is real.
In conclusion, this study shows that being overweight or obese during childhood may increase the chance of developing COPD later in life, even if the person never smokes. This means that helping children stay at a healthy weight could be one way to protect their lungs as they grow older.
Review and Analysis
This study is significant because it suggests that the roots of some adult diseases—like COPD—may begin much earlier in life than we once thought. While smoking is still the main cause of COPD, this research shows that childhood obesity could be another important factor.
The study is especially strong because it looked at a very large number of people over many decades, using real medical records rather than self-reports.
Another strength of the study is that it followed people into older age, when COPD typically appears, and used high-quality national health data. This adds weight to the results. However, there are some limitations.
The study did not include information about whether the people smoked as adults, what kind of air pollution they were exposed to, or details about their family backgrounds. These things could also play a role in developing COPD.
Still, the findings support the idea that keeping a healthy weight during childhood is important not only for immediate health but also for preventing serious diseases later in life. As childhood obesity becomes more common worldwide, this study adds another reason to take it seriously.
If you care about lung health, please read studies about marijuana’s effects on lung health, and why some non-smokers get lung disease and some heavy smokers do not.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
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