The association between bronchopulmonary dysplasia grade and risks of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes among preterm infants born at less than 30 weeks of gestation

BACKGROUND

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a multifactorial disease with neurodevelopmental implications. This study aims to quantify the risks of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes for each BPD grade among preterm infants born at less than 30 weeks' gestation.

METHODS

We retrospectively studied infants who received care in our institution until at least 36 weeks postmenstrual age and had a formal neurodevelopmental assessment in our infant follow-up clinic using the Bayley Scales for Infant and Toddler Development (BSID). We assessed the association between BPD grade and adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes using descriptive statistics and regression models.

RESULTS

Two hundred and fifty infants, including 89 (35.6%), 87 (34.8%), 65 (20.6%), and 9 (3.6%) with No BPD, Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3 BPD, were included in the study. Small for gestational age, late pulmonary hypertension, dexamethasone administration, and adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes were more common as BPD grade increased. In a logistic regression analysis, Grades 2 and 3, but not Grade 1, BPD were associated with increased odds of a composite adverse neurodevelopmental outcome by 2.7 and 7.2 folds, respectively. A BSID domain-specific analysis showed that higher grades were associated with lower scores in the cognitive, gross motor, and fine motor domains.

CONCLUSIONS

Grades 2 and 3 BPD, but not Grade 1, correlate with risks of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes at a grade-dependent manner in our single-center cohort retrospective study. Further validation using a multi-center large cohort is warranted.