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Moderate to late preterm birth influences pediatric lung function

Pediatric patients who were born moderate to late preterm showed reduced airway function compared with patients who were born at term, according to recent research.

“Measures of airway function assessed in adolescence by spirometry and impulse oscillometry (IOS) are reduced in females and males born moderate-to-late preterm,” Per Thunqvist, MD, from the department of pediatrics at Sachs’ Children and Youth Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues wrote in their study. “Further, there was no catch-up of lung function between 8 and 16 years of age.”

Thunqvist and colleagues evaluated 4,089 patients in the Children, Allergy, Milieu, Stockholm, Epidemiology study, of which 4.8% were either born in moderate or late preterm (gestational age = 32 weeks-36 weeks), according to the abstract. Of these, the researchers had data for 2,621 patients (149 preterm, 2,472 term) who underwent spirometry at 8 years and 16 years old, and impulse oscillometry at 16 years old to determine lung function.

They found a lower rate of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁) for pre-term girls at 8 years compared with term girls (–64 mL; 95% CI, –118 - –10); however, this association was not present in male patients at this age group, according to the abstract. There was a lower FEV₁ rate among pre-term girls (-116 mL; 95% CI, -212 to -20) and boys (-177 mL; 95% CI, -329 to -25) at 16 years compared with term boys and girls. Regarding impulse oscillometry, there was a higher adjusted resistance at 5 Hz for females (31.3 Pa·L^–1·s⁻¹; 95% CI, 6.3-56.3) and males (34.9 Pa·L^–1·s⁻¹; 95% CI, 12.0-57.7) at 16 years, as well as a higher frequency dependence of resistance for male patients (20.9 Pa·L^–1·s⁻¹; 95% CI, 9.8-31.9). – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.