Search
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infections in children worldwide. The highest incidence of severe disease is in the first 6 months of life, with infants born preterm at greatest risk for severe RSV infections.
There is limited evidence regarding the optimal time to commence parenteral nutrition in term and late preterm infants.
Limited evidence suggests that airway epithelial structure and function is disrupted in very preterm infants; however, the epithelial morphology and physiology has not been well characterised following discharge from neonatal intensive care. This study aimed to characterise the nasal airway epithelium from 1-year-old survivors of very preterm birth.
To describe writhing General Movements Assessment (GMA) classification and General Movement Optimality Score-Revised (GMOS-R) profiles in the general population; to explore relationships between GMOS-R scores and GMA classification, age of assessment and infant socio-demographic factors; and to establish the inter-rater reproducibility of writhing age GMA classification and GMOS-R.
People born preterm (<37 weeks’ gestation) have lower peak oxygen consumption (peak VO2), a well-established indicator of long-term health outcomes, compared to term-born peers. However, responses to exercise can vary with exercise mode, which has implications for prognostic assessments.
Since the first description of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), multiple definitions to diagnose BPD and its grading have been published. Several studies have compared the predictive performance of these definitions for long-term outcomes. The objective was to identify the BPD definition with the optimal predictive performance for long-term respiratory and neurological outcomes in preterm infants.
Postnatal intensive care for preterm infants born at 22 to 23 weeks' gestation is increasing, although survival rates remain low. Information on outcomes for multiple countries or regions can be important for research, benchmarking, quality improvement, and parental counseling.
Lung inflammation and impaired alveolarization precede bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Glucocorticoids are anti-inflammatory and reduce ventilator requirements in preterm infants. However, high-dose glucocorticoids inhibit alveolarization. The effect of glucocorticoids on lung function and structure in preterm newborns exposed to antenatal inflammation is unknown. We hypothesise that postnatal low-dose dexamethasone reduces ventilator requirements, prevents inflammation and BPD-like lung pathology, following antenatal inflammation.
Perinatal inflammation increases the risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm neonates, but the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms remain largely unknown. Given their anti-inflammatory and regenerative capacity, multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPC) are a promising cell-based therapy to prevent and/or treat the negative pulmonary consequences of perinatal inflammation in the preterm neonate.
Many survivors of preterm birth will have abnormal lung development, reduced peak lung function and, potentially, an increased rate of physiological lung function decline, each of which places them at increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease across the lifespan.