Respiratory function of very prematurely born infants at follow-up - influence of gender

Mark R Thomas ¹, Louise Marston ², Gerrard F Rafferty ¹, Sandra Calvert ³, Neil Marlow ⁴, Janet L Peacock ⁵ and Anne Greenough ^1*

¹ King's College London, United Kingdom
² Brunel University, United States
³ St George's Hospital Medical School, United Kingdom
⁴ University Hospital, Nottingham, United Kingdom
⁵ Brunel University, United Kingdom

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: anne.greenough{at}kcl.ac.uk.

Accepted 12 January 2006

Abstract

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

Design: Prospective follow up study.

Setting: Tertiary neonatal intensive care units

Patients: 76 infants, mean gestational age of 26.4 (SD 1.5) weeks, from the United Kingdom Oscillation study.

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

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

Results: The 42 male infants differed significantly from the 34 female infants with respect to being of lower birthweight for gestation, requiring more days of ventilation and a greater proportion being oxygen dependent at 36 weeks PMA and at NICU discharge. The male infants' mean Raw and FRCpleth were significantly higher and their mean sGaw was significantly lower than the results of the female infants. After adjustment for birth and current size differences, the differences between males and females for FRCpleth and sGaw were 15% and 26% respectively and remained significant.

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

Keywords: gender, lung function, plethysmography, prematurity

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