Inflammatory mediator patterns in tracheal aspirate and their association with bronchopulmonary dysplasia in very low birth weight neonates

BACKGROUND: Alterations in inflammatory mediators are an important finding in neonates who develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD); however, there is a lack of research examining the relationship between multiple inflammatory mediators in premature neonates and the development of BPD. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether the distribution of 12 inflammatory mediators detected in the tracheal aspirate (TA) of neonates within 24 hours of birth could differentiate between neonates who did and did not develop BPD. STUDY DESIGN: TA samples were collected from 27 very low birth weight neonates (BPD+ =11) and the concentrations of 12 biomarkers associated with BPD were determined. Linear discriminate analysis (LDA) was used to classify neonates into two outcome groups. RESULT: LDA based on the 12 measured biomarkers displayed a significant level of discriminant function (p=0.007). CONCLUSION: Using linear discriminant analysis, predictive models of BPD can be generated. Our results suggest that multiple inflammatory mediators collected within 24 hours of birth may be used to classify neonates into who will and will not develop BPD.