Table 2 Age adjusted descriptive characteristics of former students who responded to the adulthood postal questionnaire, by presence or absence of respiratory disease in early life

	Bronchitis/pneumonia/asthma				p Value
	Yes		No		p Value
Age* (y) (n, median)	564	65.8	3125	64.0	0.001†
Birth weight (g) (n, mean)	255	3530.7	1461	3517.8	0.77
Height (cm) (n, mean)	608	176.9	3381	176.4	0.09
Body mass index (kg/m2) (n, mean)	595	25.4	3328	25.5	0.31
Leg length (cm) (n, mean)	592	75.7	3320	75.9	0.58
Adult social class I (n (%))	504	52.7	2649	52.5	0.94
Former or current smoker (n (%))	613	57.8	3403	55.5	0.29
Exercise ⩾1/week	608	68.5	3394	65.3	0.13
MRC Respiratory Questionnaire
Chronic phlegm (n (%))	611	11.9	3392	7.6	<0.001
Dyspnoea (n (%))	576	17.2	3193	12.7	0.003
Doctor’s diagnosis
Cardiovascular disease (n (%))	584	16.4	3291	15.5	0.54
High cholesterol (n (%))	581	21.8	3283	24.9	0.23
High blood pressure (n (%))	613	32.9	3359	31.0	0.35
Asthma (n (%))	584	26.8	3255	5.0	<0.001
Bronchitis or emphysema (n (%))	580	27.6	3255	6.8	<0.001
Cancer (n (%))	566	7.9	3196	6.8	0.35
Diabetes (n (%))	608	4.2	3376	5.0	0.35

Glasgow Alumni Cohort, 2001–2002.
*Not adjusted for age.
†Wilcoxon rank sum test.