Risk factors and early origins of respiratory diseases

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Chairs: Claudia Kuehni (Bern, Switzerland), Fabio Midulla (Rome, Italy)
Aims: To describe how maternal complications and conditions in pregnancy and in the perinatal period can affect respiratory health in childhood, the causal role of these factors and the non-causal role of the various confounding factors that explain these associations and how early life risk factors may affect the development of chronic pulmonary obstructive disease in adults.
Target audience: Clinicians and epidemiologists who have an interest in lung development, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Pregnancy complications and respiratory problems in childhood Franca Rusconi (Florence, Italy)
Mode of delivery or early life antibiotics and the risk of asthma in studies using sibling design Catarina Almqvist Malmros (Stockholm, Sweden)