TY - JOUR
AU - Pascoe, Christopher D.
AB - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, is traditionally considered a disease of smoking. However, <20% of people who smoke develop COPD, indicating the disease is complex, resulting from the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Emerging evidence highlights the importance of exposure in early life to environmental irritants that impair fetal lung development and subsequent lung function trajectories, increasing risk for future COPD. Specifically, childhood asthma, pre-term birth, and surfactant deficiency have been associated with lung function impairments and an increased COPD risk later in life. Furthermore, prenatal exposure to cigarettes influences sensitivity of individuals to smoking in later life. A mounting body of evidence now indicates that diabetes exposure during pregnancy increases risk for several childhood conditions linked with COPD risk, suggesting that maternal diabetes may be an unexplored risk factor for COPD. This article reviews the current literature on the influence of maternal diabetes on known early life COPD risk factors (asthma, preterm birth), and identifies knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to pin down a potential association with COPD. Specifically, whether exposure to maternal diabetes influences offspring risk for COPD through already identified risk modifiers, or directly by altering lung function trajectories or sensitivity to cigarettes. Maternal diabetes rates are rising worldwide, with Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) during pregnancy and gestational diabetes (GDM) nearly doubling over the last 15 years. Understanding how prenatal diabetes influences COPD risk is imperative to establishing whether intervening early can prevent COPD in this population.
TI - Maternal diabetes and lung health: an unexplored risk factor for COPD?
JF - AJP - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology
DO - 10.1152/ajplung.00046.2025
DA - 2025-07-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/the-american-physiological-society/maternal-diabetes-and-lung-health-an-unexplored-risk-factor-for-copd-4SNiIM6UAP
SP - L126
EP - L133
VL - 329
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -