Generational changes in lung function in adults from several world regions: results from the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study

This study estimated birth cohort effects on lung function using BOLD (Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease) data from 28 569 adults born between 1902 and 1976 across 41 sites in 34 countries. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ) and the FEV 1 /FVC increased across successive birth cohorts in both high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with mean values rising steadily with later birth year. In fully adjusted models, FVC increased by 21.4 mL, FEV 1 by 24.6 mL and FEV 1 /FVC by 0.25% per birth year. These positive associations were consistent across sex, smoking status and country-income subgroups (HICs and LMICs).