Impaired respiratory function in infants with anterior abdominal wall defects

Respiratory function at follow-up was assessed in 13 infants who had undergone surgical repair of an anterior abdominal wall defect. Six infants had exomphalos and seven had gastroschisis. The infants were delivered at a median gestational age of 36 weeks (range, 32 to 38 weeks). Respiratory function was assessed by measurement of functional residual capacity (FRC) at a median postnatal age of 5 months (range, 1 to 10 months). Although there was no significant difference in the FRC of the infants with gastroschisis compared with those with exomphalos, the study group's mean FRC (25 mL/kg) was significantly lower than that of 50 healthy control infants (mean, 30 mL/kg; 95% CI, +/- 6 mL/kg). Five infants had an FRC below the 95% confidence limit of the normal range. These data suggest that infants with anterior abdominal wall defects may have impaired antenatal lung growth.