Long-term respiratory impairment with the new BPD

Abstract

In the presurfactant era, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) was common and was associated with significant long-term respiratory morbidity. Although survival after extreme preterm birth has been improving and the rate of severe BPD has declined over the past 20 years, a new pattern of lung injury with disruption of lung growth has emerged. This new pattern of BPD seems less severe but long-term data have been sparse. To investigate the long-term outcomes of former very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants born in the surfactant era, vom Hove et al from the University of Leipzig have completed a study of pulmonary function tests in children with a history of BPD and VLBW, compared with a matched preterm VLBW control group.