The association between systemic inflammation, lung function and respiratory symptoms in the BOLD study in Northern Europe
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The role of systemic inflammation in the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases is increasingly recognized, but the relationship between individual inflammatory markers, lung function and respiratory symptoms is not well established. We studied 1,238 adults participating in the first follow-up of the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) cohort study in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Estonia in 2019–2021. Systemic inflammation was assessed using total white blood cell (WBC) count and WBC sub-populations (neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)). In regression models adjusted for gender, age, smoking status, body mass index and study site, all WBC sub-populations, except for lymphocytes, were associated with chronic airflow obstruction (CAO) and wheeze. In never smokers, increased neutrophils were associated with reduced lung volumes (FEV1 β coef. with 95%CI -1.95 (-3.33, -0.57) p = 0.006; FVC − 1.94 (-3.18, -0.69) p = 0.002), but not CAO. Only increased basophils were associated with CAO in never smokers (OR with 95%CI 2.70 (1.28, 5.72) p = 0.009). In former smokers, increased neutrophils, monocytes and eosinophils were significantly associated with reduced FEV1, reduced FVC, CAO and wheeze. In current smokers, inflammatory markers were associated with cough (neutrophils OR with 95%CI 1.49 (1.10, 2.01) p = 0.010; monocytes 1.24 (0.99, 1.55) p = 0.058; basophils 2.56 (1.12, 5.86) p = 0.026). Systemic inflammation may be related to both obstructive and restrictive respiratory impairment in the general population, with associations that vary by smoking status.
Date Issued
2025-08-22
Date Acceptance
2025-08-19
Citation
Scientific Reports, 2025, 15
ISSN
2045-2322
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
15
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Publication Status
Published
Article Number
30929
Date Publish Online
2025-08-22