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Introduction Visually normal areas of the lung with high attenuation on computed tomography (CT) imaging, termed CT lung injury, may represent injured but not yet remodelled lung parenchyma. This prospective cohort study examined if CT lung injury is associated with future interstitial features on CT and restrictive spirometry abnormality among participants from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Methods CARDIA is a population-based cohort study. CT scans obtained at two time points were assessed objectively for amount of lung tissue characterised as CT lung injury and interstitial features. Restrictive spirometry was defined as having a forced vital capacity (FVC) 70%. Results Among 2213 participants, the median percentage of lung tissue characterised as CT lung injury at a mean age of 40 years was 3.4% (interquartile range 0.8–18.0%). After adjustment for covariates, a 10% higher amount of CT lung injury at mean age 40 years was associated with a 4.37% (95% CI 3.99–4.74%) higher amount of lung tissue characterised as interstitial features at mean age 50 years. Compared to those with the lowest quartile of CT lung injury at mean age 40 years, there were higher odds of incident restrictive spirometry at mean age 55 years in quartile 2 (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.20–3.48), quartile 3 (OR 2.80, 95% CI 1.66–4.72) and quartile 4 (OR 3.77, 95% CI 2.24–6.33). Conclusions CT lung injury is an early objective measure that indicates risk of future lung impairment.