RECURRENT RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS FOLLOWING MILD
PRETERM BIRTH: A PROSPECTIVE CONTROLLED STUDY
Said M and Hesham M
New Children¡¯s Hospital,
Cairo University, Egypt
Objective: To assess the contribution of mild
preterm birth (33-36 gestational weeks) on the recurrence of the
respiratory symptoms during the first 4 years of their life.
Methods: Twenty-five children born at 33-36
week¡¯s gestation and a matched full term control group, born nearly on the
same time and from the same community. They were prospectively followed for
their respiratory outcome during the first 4 years of their life.
Prematurely born children who were chosen had either no respiratory illness
or grade1 respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in their neonatal period.
Again these premature children who were chosen were neither artificially
ventillated nor had suffered from any complications e.g. pneumothorax or
sepsis.
Results: According to the age of our preterm and
full term control group children, they were divided into 4 main groups. (1)
The group age from birth to 9 months of life, those prematurely born
infants who developed at least 2 attacks of acute wheezy bronchiolitis
compared to those who had no or who had only one attack in full term
control. (2) The group age from 9 months to 2 years old, who had monthly
visits compared to those who had 2-3 monthly visits. (3) The group age
between 2-3 years old, who had 2-3 monthly visits compared to 4-5 monthly
visits. (4) The group age between 3-4 years, who had monthly visits
compared to those who had 6 monthly or more visits.
Conclusion: Children with gestational age between
33-36 weeks were more likely to experience respiratory infections and
hence, more likely to have more frequent outpatient visits compared to full
term control children. So, even in children with history of mild
prematurity who had no or minimal neonatal respiratory illness, there is an
increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms during the first 4 years of
life compared with those born at term. Hence, factors associated with
prematurity rather than combined effects of respiratory distress syndrome
and its treatment could determine respiratory health during infancy and
childhood.