A groundbreaking study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), in collaboration with the Clínic-IDIBAPS, has, for the first time, mapped out how lung capacity evolves from early childhood all the way into old age.
The findings, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, challenge long-held beliefs about how lungs develop and decline over a lifetime, offering a new framework for understanding lung health.
For many years, scientists believed that lung function increased steadily until it reached its peak around the ages of 20 to 25. After that, it was thought to remain stable for about 15 years before gradually declining as a natural part of aging.
This understanding was based on previous studies that did not observe people throughout their entire lives. However, this new study changes that perspective.
Researchers used an approach called “accelerated cohort design,” which allowed them to combine data from several different studies, covering a wide age range. By doing this, they managed to track lung development and decline across different stages of life without having to follow the same group of people for decades.
The study included more than 30,000 participants aged 4 to 82 from eight population-based studies across Europe and Australia. Judith Garcia-Aymerich, the study’s first author and co-director of the ISGlobal program on Environment and Health over the Life Course, explained that this large-scale approach made it possible to see patterns in lung health that had been missed before.
To measure lung health, the researchers used a test called forced spirometry. In this test, participants take a deep breath and then blow out as much air as they can, as fast as they can.
The test measures two important things: forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), which shows how much air can be pushed out in the first second, and forced vital capacity (FVC), which is the total amount of air exhaled. These two measures help doctors understand how well the lungs are working.
The study revealed something surprising: lung function develops in two main phases. The first is a rapid growth phase during childhood, followed by a slower growth phase until peak lung capacity is reached.
For women, this peak happens around age 20, while for men it occurs around age 23. Contrary to what was previously believed, there is no long plateau where lung function remains stable. Instead, the decline starts right after the peak. This discovery contradicts older models that suggested lung function stayed steady until around age 40 before beginning to drop.
The study also looked at factors that affect lung health, particularly smoking and asthma. The results showed that people with persistent asthma reach their peak lung function earlier and at a lower level than those without asthma.
This means that their lungs don’t grow as strong as they should, putting them at greater risk for problems later in life. Meanwhile, smoking was found to speed up lung decline, but the impact mostly starts around age 35. Smokers begin losing lung capacity faster than non-smokers from that point onward.
These findings carry important implications for public health. Traditionally, lung health is not closely monitored in younger people unless they show clear symptoms of problems. However, this study suggests that early detection of low lung function could help prevent serious respiratory diseases in adulthood.
Rosa Faner, a researcher at the University of Barcelona and one of the authors of the study, emphasized the importance of early lung health checks. She noted that spotting issues earlier could lead to interventions that prevent conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other long-term respiratory problems.
The study’s results underline the need for greater awareness of lung health from a young age. Preventative measures, such as encouraging young people not to smoke and ensuring that asthma is well-managed, could have long-term benefits for lung health.
It also suggests that doctors might need to rethink how they monitor lung health over a lifetime, placing more focus on early detection and management rather than just responding to problems once they appear.
Overall, this research has reshaped the understanding of how lungs develop and age, pointing to the importance of protecting lung health long before old age. Early monitoring and prevention strategies could help people maintain better lung function throughout their lives, reducing the risk of serious respiratory diseases as they get older.
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.
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The research findings can be found in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
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