ESPE Abstracts

Background: Different severities of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) may adversely affect postnatal growth of small preterm infants (PT).

Objective: To measure postnatal growth data for 69 (39 F, 30 M) preterms with BPD.

Method: We studied growth parameters of 69 PT with BPD for 16±3 months postnatally. 40 had mild, 20 had moderate and 9 had severe BPD.

Results: 96% of infants were appropriate for gestational age (AGA). Only 4% preterms had birth weight SDS < −2 for GA, and 4% had length SDS (LSDS) < −2. 84% of PT-BPD had normal or accelerated GV during the 16±3 months period. At 8±2 months of uncorrected age 45% had LSDS <−2 and at 16±3 months of age 25% had LSDS < −2. At 8±2 months 13% had body mass index SDS (BMISDS) < −2 and at 16±3 months 5.8% had BMISDS < −2. At 8±2 months 52% had HCSDS2 <−2. At 16±3 months 27.5% had head circumference SDS (HCSDS) < −2. 72.5% of PT-BPD had normal HCSDS compared to FT infants at 16±3 months. The co-existence of BPD with sepsis, NEC, PDA, twinning significantly affected their growth parameters postnatally.

Conclusion: At 16±3 months postnatally, BPD-PT with severe BPD were shorter and had smaller HCSDS versus those with moderate severity.