Mid-childhood lung function in a cohort of children with "new bronchopulmonary dysplasia"

Recent advances in perinatal care and neonatal respiratory therapy have led to a new phenotype of bronchopulmonary dysplasia ("new BPD"). The long-term respiratory outcome of this new form of BPD has yet to be adequately described. Aim of this study was to provide longitudinal data on lung function of an unselected cohort of children born extremely premature (EP) with an extremely low birth weight in the post-surfactant era.

Respiratory function was assessed twice (at 8 and 12 years) in 48 children born at a gestational age <28 weeks with a birth weight <1,000 g. Twenty-eight of them had BPD (oxygen-dependency at 36 weeks postmenstrual age) (EP-BPD), and 20 not (EP non-BPD). Twenty-seven children born at term served as control group.

The EP-BPD group had significantly lower spirometric values (given as z-scores) than controls, especially in parameters indicating airflow obstruction (8 ys: zFEV1:-1.3 ± 1 vs. 0.5 ± 0.8; 12 ys:-1.6 ± 1 vs. 0.5 ± 0.8, P < 0.001). Despite their better spirometric profile, EP-non-BPD children also had significantly lower parameters than controls (8ys: zFEV1:-0.5 ± 0.8; 12 ys:-0.5 ± 0.9, P < 0.001). During the 4-year follow-up, EP-non-BPD and controls had stable mean z-scores, but EP-BPD had a significant decline in mean zFEV1 (from -1.3 ± 1 to -1.6 ± 1, P = 0.03), zFEV1/FVC (from -0.4 ± 1 to -1.1 ± 1, P = 0.008), and zFEF 25-75% (from -1.2 ± 1 to -1.8 ± 1, P = 0.03).

EP children born in the post-surfactant era showed a significant airflow limitation, particularly pronounced in BPD subjects who in addition, presented an abnormal airway growth trajectory with a decline in lung function between the ages of 8 and 12 years. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2016;51:1057-1064. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.