Early childhood lung infection predicts adult respiratory morbidity. What about adult mortality? Allison JP et al [Lancet 2023;401:1183–93 https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(23)00131-9] have examined, prospectively collected data, from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development. This team has examined the risk of premature death in adulthood associated with early childhood lower respiratory tract infections. This is truly a magnificent national longitudinal (nearly over eight decades) observational cohort study from a population born in March 1946 in Wales, Scotland, and England examining the occurrence of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in children age less than 2 years and …