Association Between Birth Weight and Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in <32 Weeks of Singleton Infants

Objective: Intrauterine growth retardation of lung has been suggested as being one of the risk factors in the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). The aim of this study was to clarify birth weight percentile among Korean infants using the contemporary Korean reference curve for birth weight by gestational age published in 2014, and on the basis of that clarification, identify the association between birth weight percentile and BPD development. Methods: All newborn infants born at <32 weeks of gestation admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of CHA Bundang Medical Center from January 2010 through December 2015 were reviewed. Infants were divided into BPD group and non-BPD group. BPD was defined as a need of oxygen or positive airway pressure at 36 weeks postmenstrual age. All prenatal and neonatal data were collected via retrospective chart review and analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: During the study period, 198 singleton infants were born at <32 weeks` gestation. Among these, 179 infants were included, 54 infants in BPD group and 125 infants in non-BPD group. Accor-ding to logistic regression analysis, lower gestational age, lower birth weight percentile, occurrence of late onset sepsis showed increased risk of BPD (odds ratio [OR] 0.77, P=0.027; OR 0.98, P=0.021; OR 7.98, P<0.0001). Conclusion: In this single center study, lower birth weight percentile in preterm infants seems to increase the risk of BPD. In these infants, anticipate the high risk of BPD and cautious treatment strategies are needed.