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Preemie Babies Have Reduced Lung Function
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Many healthy but premature infants younger
than 12 weeks old have reduced lung function, a new Brazilian study
finds.
"Preemie" boys are more likely to experience impaired
lung capacity than girls, the researchers added, as are babies that
quickly put on weight.
"There was a noticeable reduction in expiratory flows in the
preterm groups compared with control infants and reference values,"
researcher Dr. Marcus H. Jones, of the Hospital Sao Lucas in Porto
Alegre, said in a prepared statement.
The findings appear in the current issue of the American Journal
of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The study involved 62 premature infants with no significant neonatal
respiratory disease and 27 full-term infants.
Previous studies on full-term infants have noted reduced lung function
in boys. After adjusting for gestational age and weight, Jones and
his colleagues found that expiratory flows were 30 percent lower
in the preterm male infants. The findings could help explain why
preemie male babies have a higher risk of death from respiratory
illness than girls, the researchers said.
Even premature infants who appear to have a healthy lung capacity
may have some reduced function, the team noted. "The increased
risk of wheezing, chronic cough and hospital readmissions early
in life suggests that some degree of airway obstruction is present
even in preterm infants without neonatal respiratory distress,"
Jones said.
He said the findings indicate that gestational age does have an
independent effect on expiratory flows -- the amount of breath expelled
by the lungs.
"There is up to a 7 percent increase [in expiratory flow]
per week of gestation. It also reinforces the hypothesis that prematurity
alone has an important role in the development of persistent airway
obstruction," Jones said.
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2006/02/16/hscout531002.html
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