Evolution of lung function in preterm infants with or without bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Introduction: Healthy preterm infants do no catch-up lung function (LF) during the first two years of life. The aim of study is to compare the evolution of LF in infants born preterm, with and without BPD. Methods: Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory flows at 50%, 75%, 25-75% of FVC (FEF50, FEF75, FEF25-75) and forced expiratory flow at 0.5 sec (FEV0.5), was obtained by raised volume rapid torachoabdominal compression technique (RVRTC) in 14 (7 males) BDP+ and in 12 (6 males) infants born preterm BPD-. Measurements were repeated at 6 and 12 moths after baseline. A generalized estimating ecuations (GEE) adjusted for gestational age, length, corrected age and body mass index z-score (according OMS tables) was built for boys and girls separately. Results: View this table: Table 1. Characteristics of BPD+ View this table: Table 2. GEE coefficients of LF parameters of infants born preterm BPD+ (base: BPD–) Conclusions: FVC, FEF25-75 and FEV0.5 decrease among male infants with BPD as compared to those without BPD; however in female infants they tend to be similar, and FEF50, FEF25-75 and FEV0.5/FVC even improve.