A 1-year follow-up of low birth weight infants with and without bronchopulmonary dysplasia: health, growth, clinical lung disease, cardiovascular and neurological sequelae.

A cohort of 86 low birth weight (LBW infants (< 1751 g) including 23 subjects with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and 23 matched controls without BPD were checked up at corrected ages of 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 months. Thirty-six of the subjects were re-hospitalized, mostly because of infections, there being no significant difference in the number of hospitalizations between BPD cases and their controls. Delayed growth was frequent, but a catch-up growth was seen. Eighteen of the subjects (5 with BPD and 7 of controls) were of height below 2 SD at a corrected age of 12 months. Twenty-four (14 with BPD and 3 controls) had persistent respiratory symptoms during the follow-up period and 4 of the BPD subjects still had such symptoms at the age of 1 year. Hoarseness was more frequent in BPD cases than in the controls (8/1 cases). One subject with BPD had transient symptoms of cor pulmonale and 1 without BPD developed transient systemic hypertension. Nine subjects (4 with BPD and 2 controls) had a diagnosis of cerebral palsy at the age of 1 year.