Familial factors related to lung function in children aged 6-10 years: Results from the paarc epidemiologic study

Familial factors related to lung function between six and 10 years of age have been studied among 1,160 children whose both parents were examined In 1975 In the French PAARC (Pollution Atmosphenque et Affections Resplratoires Chro niques) Cooperative Study. The three indices FVC (forced vital capacity), FEV (forced expiratory volume in one second), and FEF_25-75 (forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75 per cent of the vital capacity) were studied after adjustment for sex, town, age, and height (and weight for children's FVC and FEy Maternal (but not paternal) smoking was associated with a significant decrease in FE₁ and FEF_25-75 but not In FVC. Familial resemblance was observed for all Indices between children and parents and between siblings. None of the environmental factors considered (i.e., parental smoking or education) or body habitus explained the familial resemblance observed. Conversely, after taking into account the aggregation between siblings, associations between children's lung function and parental characteristics (smoking, lung function) remained significant Parental-children correlations exhibited an Increasing temporal trend with increasing age of the children. All but one correlation for FVC, FEV₁ and FEF_25-75 residuals of children with mothers' residuals were higher in the oldest age group compared with the youngest age group at the 0.10 level. Furthermore, correlations between siblings of opposite sex were significantly lower than correlations between siblings of like sex, especially for FEV₁/FVC and FEF_25-75/FVC. Results suggest that different growth patterns between boys and girls may be a critical factor in the study of lung function familial resemblance.