Background: Premature newborn infants are vulnerable to develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic respiratory disorder resulting from premature birth in patients requiring oxygen and mechanical ventilation. Although most neonates who develop BPD ultimately achieve normal lung function, they are at significant risk of developing reactive airway disease later in childhood which could predispose to asthma.
Methods/Data base: In this study, 23 patients who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, NY, between 1997 and 1999 and who were diagnosed with BPD were evaluated after discharge from the hospital for the development of asthma. In these infants, BPD was diagnosed by oxygen dependency at 28 days of life, as well as radiographic and clinical findings. Neonatal data were abstracted from the patient's NICU records and follow-up data from outpatient records.
Results: Of the 23 patients enrolled in the study, 10 (43.5%) presented with complaints consistent with reactive airway disease and/or asthma. Of those diagnosed and treated for asthma, 6 had a positive family history of asthma and/or an atopic disorder; male to female ratio was 1:1; gestational age was between 23 to 32 weeks; birth weight ranged from 536 to 1,602 grams. Sixty percent of those patients with familial asthma went on to develop the disease. Although all of the infants had a gestational age of less than 32 weeks and an aver-age birth weight of 902 grams, these variables did not seem to significantly influence the development of asthma in these subjects.
Conclusion: This study concludes that premature infants who develop BPD are at a higher risk of developing asthma and, in addition, a positive family history seems to increase these risks.