Objective To assess the utility of clinical predictors of persistent respiratory morbidity in extremely low gestational age newborns (ELGAN). Study Design We enrolled ELGAN (<29 weeks’ gestation) at ≤7 postnatal days and collected antenatal and neonatal clinical data through 36 weeks’ post-menstrual age. We surveyed caregivers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months corrected age to identify post-discharge respiratory morbidity, defined as hospitalization, home support (oxygen, tracheotomy, ventilation), medications, or symptoms (cough/wheeze). Infants were classified as post-prematurity respiratory disease (PRD, the primary study outcome), if respiratory morbidity persisted over ≥2 questionnaires. Infants were classified with severe respiratory morbidity if there were multiple hospitalizations, exposure to systemic steroids or pulmonary vasodilators, home oxygen after 3 months or mechanical ventilation, or symptoms despite inhaled corticosteroids. Mixed effects models generated with data available at one day (perinatal) and 36 weeks’ postmenstrual age were assessed for predictive accuracy. Results Of 724 infants (918±234g, 26.7±1.4 weeks’ gestational age) classified for the primary outcome, 68.6% had PRD; 245/704 (34.8%) were classified as severe. Male sex, intrauterine growth restriction, maternal smoking, race/ethnicity, intubation at birth, and public insurance were retained in perinatal and 36-week models for both PRD and respiratory morbidity severity. The perinatal model accurately predicted PRD (c-statistic 0.858). Neither the 36-week model nor the addition of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) to the perinatal model improved accuracy (0.856, 0.860); c-statistic for BPD-alone was 0.907. Conclusion Both BPD and perinatal clinical data accurately identify ELGAN at risk for persistent and severe respiratory morbidity at one year. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01435187

ABSTRACT:The optimal FiO 2 during neonatal resuscitation is a subject of controversy. The effect of exposure to high levels of inspired oxygen on pulmonary arterial (PA) contractility is not known. We studied differences in PA vasoreactivity in term lambs initially ventilated with 21% or 100% oxygen, followed by continued ventilation using oxygen as needed for 24 h, or ventilated with 100% oxygen for 24 h and room air breathing 1-d-old lambs. Term lambs were delivered by cesarean section, intubated, and ventilated with 21% (21%Res) or 100% oxygen (100%Res) for the first 30 min of life. Subsequently, the ventilator FiO 2 was adjusted to maintain a PaO 2 between 45 and 65 mm Hg for 24 h. Five lambs were ventilated continuously with 100% oxygen (100%24h). Six spontaneously breathing newborn lambs (RA Spont) were studied for comparison. Lambs were killed at 24 h of life and PA rings were isolated and contracted with norepinephrine (NE) and KCl and some were relaxed with A23187 and SNAP in tissue baths. NE and KCl induced contractions were highest in PA isolated from 100%24h lambs, and were significantly higher in 100%Res lambs than PA from 21%Res lambs. Contraction responses in PA from RA Spont lambs were similar to 21%Res lambs. Relaxations to A23187 and SNAP were similar among all ventilated groups. PA contractility to NE and KCl is increased following both brief (30 min) and prolonged (24 h) exposure to 100% oxygen during mechanical ventilation. In contrast, normoxic resuscitation and ventilation do not increase PA contractility. T he extent of oxygen supplementation during optimal resuscitation of a newborn infant remains controversial. Oxygen plays a crucial role in mediating pulmonary vascular transition at birth and even small increases in fetal oxygenation (similar to or less than that induced by room air ventilation) result in a dramatic decrease in pulmonary vascular resistance (1-3). However, the debate regarding the use of oxygen for neonatal resuscitation has intensified in recent years. New arguments have been added to the debate as more and more data indicate that not only is room air as good as 100% oxygen for resuscitation but that even a brief exposure to pure oxygen at birth might be detrimental (4). It has been suggested that breathing 100% oxygen dilates constricted pulmonary arteries more efficiently than room air. However, ultrasound and direct estimation of pulmonary arterial pressure in asphyxiated piglets demonstrated that pulmonary hypertension normalized as quickly with room air as with 100% oxygen (5,6).NE constriction of pulmonary arteries isolated from fetal and neonatal animals after normal transition has been studied in detail (7-9). However, the effect of oxygen exposure during resuscitation and or ventilation on the contractile response to NE is not known.We hypothesized that exposure to 100% oxygen during resuscitation would result in formation of reactive oxygen species and induce increased pulmonary arterial contractile response and that the increased contractility would be prop...

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Objective: To determine patterns of respiratory medications used in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates. Study design: The Prematurity Respiratory Outcomes Program enrolled 835 babies <29 weeks gestation in the first week. Of 751 survivors, 738 (98%) completed at least 1, and 85% completed