Small Airway Dysfunction Affects One in Five Indian Adolescents: The Multicity APEAL Study

Q: What does this research mean for the field?

Small airway dysfunction affects one in five Indian adolescents and is independently associated with age, sex, and geographic location, but not with ambient PM2.5 or NO2 levels. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

Mohammed Kaleem Ullah; Anant Mohan; Rajesh K. Thimmulappa; Harish C. Phuleria; Santu Ghosh; Rajesh Majumder; Swapnali Patil; Priya Samdarshi; Sathish Chandran Mayigaiah; Ashwaghosha Parthasarathi; Jayaraj Biligere Siddaiah; Twinkle Agrawal; George D′Souza; P A Mahesh

doi:10.1111/cea.70423

August 24, 2026Clinical & Experimental Allergy

Small Airway Dysfunction Affects One in Five Indian Adolescents: The Multicity APEAL Study

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Key Points

To evaluate the prevalence of small airway dysfunction and determine its associations with demographic factors and ambient air pollutants among adolescents across multiple cities.
Conducted the multicenter APEAL study across four cities in India to evaluate respiratory health in adolescents.
Assessed forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of vital capacity (FEF 25–75) and measured exposure to ambient PM2.5 and NO2.
Small airway dysfunction affected one in five adolescents, with substantial variation observed across the four participating cities.
Age, sex, and study city were independently associated with FEF 25–75, whereas ambient PM2.5 and NO2 levels were not independently associated.

Implication

Multicenter study reveals small airway dysfunction in one in five adolescents, highlighting geographic and demographic variations in lung health.

Abstract

Summary Small airway dysfunction affected one in five adolescents and varied substantially across four Indian cities. Age, sex and study city, but not ambient PM 2.5 or NO 2 , were independently associated with FEF 25–75 .

Discussion

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Cite This Study

Ullah et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8e9b21451774b83f3b3b01 https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.70423

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Small Airway Dysfunction Affects One in Five Indian Adolescents: The Multicity APEAL Study

Key Points

Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

Small Airway Dysfunction Affects One in Five Indian Adolescents: The Multicity APEAL Study

Key Points

Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

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