Frequency (%) of all childhood factors registered in ECRHS I and association of each factor with adult forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)†
| Men | Women | |||
| % | Adjusted difference in FEV1‡ (ml) (95% CI) | % | Adjusted difference in FEV1‡ (ml) (95% CI) | |
| Maternal asthma | 5.3 | −74.5 (−133 to −16.3)* | 7.2 | −44.0 (−79.3 to −8.6)* |
| Paternal asthma | 5.7 | −113 (−169 to −56.3)* | 6.4 | −69.6 (−107 to −31.8)* |
| Maternal atopy | 17.1 | 7.8 (−28.0 to 43.5) | 22.6 | −2.7 (−25.1 to 19.7) |
| Paternal atopy | 12.8 | −14.0 (−54.5 to 26.4) | 16.7 | −12.5 (−38.1 to 13.1) |
| Childhood asthma | 4.1 | −290 (−352 to −227)* | 2.9 | −186 (−239 to −133)* |
| Severe respiratory infection <5 years | 9.5 | −108 (−152 to −63.2)* | 10.8 | −50.6 (−80.5 to −20.6)* |
| Maternal smoking | 24.1 | −51.4 (−82.5 to −20.3)* | 25.9 | −28.3 (−50 to −6.7)* |
| Paternal smoking | 66.3 | −19.6 (−47.3 to 8.0) | 65.5 | −4.4 (−24.1 to 15.3) |
| Number of siblings | ||||
| 0 | 10.8 | 10.0 | ||
| 1 | 30.6 | 19.2 (−26.0 to 64.4) | 30.6 | 15.2 (−17.5 to 47.9) |
| 2 | 25.4 | 26.7 (−20.3 to 73.6) | 25.4 | 25.5 (−8.2 to 59.1) |
| 3 | 15.3 | 18.4 (−33.4 to 70.1) | 15.3 | −0.1 (−36.9 to 36.7) |
| ⩾4 | 18.0 | 9.6 (−40.8 to 60.0) | 18.8 | 8.1 (−27.8 to 44.1) |
| Order of birth | ||||
| 1st | 42.2 | 39.9 | ||
| 2nd | 29.7 | 12.0 (−18.6 to 42.6) | 29.7 | 19.0 (−2.8 to 40.8) |
| 3rd | 14.5 | 33.2 (−5.9 to 72.3) | 16.4 | 18.5 (−8.1 to 45.1) |
| >3rd | 13.6 | −8.2 (−48.3 to 32.0) | 14.0 | 21.4 (−7.1 to 49.7) |
| Day care | 48.6 | −10.8 (−39.1 to 17.5) | 46.0 | 5.8 (−14.6 to 26.2) |
| Pets | ||||
| No pet | 37.7 | 36.2 | ||
| Cat | 16.6 | 1.5 (−37.1 to 40.1) | 18.0 | 31.3 (4.6 to 58) |
| Dog | 18.2 | −11.6 (−48.8 to 25.6) | 16.8 | 8.1 (−18.9 to 35.1) |
| Cat and dog | 27.5 | 13.4 (−20.3 to 47.1) | 29.0 | 28.3 (4.6 to 52) |
| Season of birth | ||||
| Spring | 25.9 | 26.5 | ||
| Summer | 24.4 | 8.4 (−27.5 to 44.2) | 24.9 | 8.4 (−16.8 to 33.5) |
| Autumn | 23.9 | 8.1 (−28.0 to 44.2) | 22.9 | 19.1 (−6.6 to 44.8) |
| Winter | 25.8 | 42.0 (6.7 to 77.3) | 25.8 | 3.6 (−21.3 to 28.5) |
Analyses include 8201 measurements in men and 8631 measurements in women with complete data.
*p⩽0.01.
†As measured in ECRHS I and ECRHS II.
‡Difference in FEV1 between subjects with and without childhood factor as analysed in separate models and adjusted for smoking status, age at completed education, social class, age, height and centre.