Hou Lili, Guo Yonglu, Zhang Yurong, Zhu Zhenghua, Lian Ningfang, Gong Ying, Du Bairong, Liu Yuanyuan, Qu Jichen, Zhu Xian, Zhu Lei
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Jiuquan Branch of Shanghai General Hospital, Gansu, China.
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Front Allergy. 2025 Jul 10;6:1614899. doi: 10.3389/falgy.2025.1614899. eCollection 2025.
Small airway function naturally declines with aging. However, the precise age this decline begins in healthy Chinese individuals remains unclear. This study aimed to identify the chronological age at which small airway dysfunction (SAD) initiates and its predictors within a healthy Chinese population.
We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional, multicenter analysis of 462 adults undergoing routine health checkups. The participants underwent standard spirometry and completed questionnaires. The onset age of SAD was determined using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs). Univariate and multivariate analyses identified relationships between variables and SAD.
Healthy individuals aged 55 years or older demonstrated SAD. Age was an important independent predictor for SAD (odds ratio, 1.107; < 0.001). The AUC of age for predicting SAD was 0.771 (95% CI: 0.730-0.808), which significantly increased to 0.790 (95% CI: 0.750-0.826; = 0.0347) after adjusting for covariates (body mass index and sex).
We identified SAD predictors in a healthy Chinese population with environmental exposure. An age of 55 years or older was the threshold for predicting SAD in these healthy participants.
小气道功能会随着年龄增长而自然衰退。然而，健康中国人群中这种衰退开始的确切年龄尚不清楚。本研究旨在确定健康中国人群中小气道功能障碍（SAD）开始的实足年龄及其预测因素。
我们对462名接受常规健康检查的成年人进行了一项回顾性、横断面、多中心分析。参与者接受了标准肺功能测定并完成了问卷调查。使用受试者操作特征曲线下面积（AUC）确定SAD的发病年龄。单因素和多因素分析确定了变量与SAD之间的关系。
55岁及以上的健康个体表现出SAD。年龄是SAD的一个重要独立预测因素（比值比，1.107；P＜0.001）。预测SAD的年龄AUC为0.771（95%CI：0.730 - 0.808），在调整协变量（体重指数和性别）后显著增加至0.790（95%CI：0.750 - 0.826；P = 0.0347）。
我们在有环境暴露的健康中国人群中确定了SAD的预测因素。55岁及以上是这些健康参与者中预测SAD的阈值。
