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Early chest radiographs in very low birth weight babies receiving corticosteroids for lung disease
Author(s) -
Clark Philip W.,
Bloomfield Frank H.,
Harding Jane E.,
Teele Rita L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
pediatric pulmonology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.866
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1099-0496
pISSN - 8755-6863
DOI - 10.1002/ppul.1042
Subject(s) - medicine , radiography , chest radiograph , prospective cohort study , respiratory disease , cohort , pediatrics , lung , surgery
We set out to determine whether chest radiographs obtained in premature infants between 9–16 days of age are predictive for the development of chronic lung disease of the newborn (CLD). This was a prospective cohort study. The study included 40 babies who were enrolled in a randomized trial of corticosteroid therapy for the prevention of CLD. Chest radiographs were obtained for clinical indications between 9–16 and 25–35 days of age. All chest radiographs were assessed by a single pediatric radiologist who was unaware of the treatment allocation and who used a previously published scoring system devised by Weinstein et al. [Pediatr Pulmonol 1994;18:284–289]. The radiographic score at 9–16 days correlated well with the radiographic score at 25–35 days of age (correlation coefficient, 0.69, P ≤ 0.001). The scores at 9–16 days were significantly higher in those babies who had CLD at 28 days postnatal age (PNA) ( P = 0.03) and at 36 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) ( P = 0.002). Using a receiver‐operator characteristic curve, we have determined that for a radiographic score of 3 or greater at 9–16 days, the sensitivity for CLD was 0.64, and specificity was 0.84. We conclude that a chest radiograph taken between 9–16 days may help predict which at‐risk preterm infants will develop CLD. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2001; 31:297–300. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.