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Respiratory function of very prematurely born infants at follow up: influence of sex

¹ Division of Asthma, Allergy and Lung Biology, Guy’s King’s & St Thomas’ Medical School, King’s College London, UK
² School of Health Sciences, Brunel University, London, UK
³ Department of Child Health, St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK
⁴ Department of Child Health, University Hospital, Nottingham, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Greenough
Department of Child Health, 4th Floor Golden Jubilee Wing, King’s College Hospital, London SE5 9RS, UK; anne.greenough{at}kcl.ac.uk

Objective: To test the hypothesis that male compared with female prematurely born infants would have worse lung function at follow up.

Design: Prospective follow up study.

Setting: Tertiary neonatal intensive care units

Patients: Seventy six infants, mean (SD) gestational age 26.4 (1.5) weeks, from the United Kingdom oscillation study.

Interventions: Lung function measurements at a corrected age of 1 year.

Main outcome measures: Airways resistance (Raw) and functional residual capacity (FRC_pleth) measured by whole body plethysmography, specific conductance (sGaw) calculated from Raw and FRC_pleth, and FRC measured by a helium gas dilution technique (FRC_He).

Results: The 42 male infants differed significantly from the 34 female infants in having a lower birth weight for gestation, requiring more days of ventilation, and a greater proportion being oxygen dependent at 36 weeks postmenstrual age and discharge. Furthermore, mean Raw and FRC_pleth were significantly higher and mean sGaw significantly lower. After adjustment for birth and current size differences, the sex differences in FRC_pleth and sGaw were 15% and 26% respectively and remained significant.

Conclusion: Lung function at follow up of prematurely born infants is influenced by sex.

Abbreviations: FRC_He, functional residual capacity assessed using a helium gas dilution technique; FRC_pleth, functional residual capacity measured by whole body plethysmography; Pao, pressure at the airway opening; PMA, postmenstrual age; Raw, airways resistance; sGaw, specific conductance

Keywords: prematurity; lung function; sex; plethysmography

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