Original articles
Very prematurely born infants wheezing at follow-up: lung function and risk factors
1 MRC-Asthma Centre, Division of Asthma, Allergy and Lung Biology, King’s College London, London, UK
2 School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Brunel University, London, UK
3 Department of Child Health, St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK
4 Academic Division of Child Health, School of Human Development, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Correspondence to:
Professor Anne Greenough, 4th Floor, Golden Jubilee Wing, King’s College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 9RS, UK; anne.greenough{at}kcl.ac.uk
Objectives: To determine whether abnormalities of lung volume and/or airway function were associated with wheeze at follow-up in infants born very prematurely and to identify risk factors for wheeze.
Design: Lung function data obtained at 1 year of age were collated from two cohorts of infants recruited into the UKOS and an RSV study, respectively.
Setting: Infant pulmonary function laboratory.
Patients: 111 infants (mean gestational age 26.3 (SD 1.6) weeks).
Interventions: Lung function measurements at 1 year of age corrected for gestational age at birth. Diary cards and respiratory questionnaires were completed to document wheeze.
Main outcome measures: Functional residual capacity (FRCpleth and FRCHe), airways resistance (Raw), FRCHe:FRCpleth and tidal breathing parameters (TPTEF:TE).
Results: The 60 infants who wheezed at follow-up had significantly lower mean FRCHe, FRCHe:FRCpleth and TPTEF:TE, but higher mean Raw than the 51 without wheeze. Regression analysis demonstrated that gestational age, length at assessment, family history of atopy and a low FRCHe:FRCpleth were significantly associated with wheeze.
Conclusions: Wheeze at follow-up in very prematurely born infants is associated with gas trapping, suggesting abnormalities of the small airways.
Keywords: lung function; prematurity; wheeze
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Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: e9.
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