Long-term respiratory and developmental outcomes in children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia and history of tracheostomy

OBJECTIVE: The long-term morbidity among children with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia who require tracheostomy (tBPD) relative to those without tracheostomy (sBPD) is not well characterized. We compared childhood lung function and neurodevelopmental outcomes in tBPD and sBPD. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case-control study of N = 49 tBPD and N = 280 sBPD subjects in Boston Children’s Hospital Preterm Lung Patient Registry and medical record. We compared NICU course, childhood spirometry, and neurodevelopmental testing. RESULT: tBPD subjects were more likely than sBPD to be Black, have pulmonary hypertension, and have subglottic stenosis. tBPD subjects had lower maximal childhood FEV(1) % predicted (β = −0.14) and FEV(1)/FVC (β = −0.08); spirometry curves were more likely to suggest fixed extrathoracic obstruction. tBPD subjects had greater cognitive and motor delays <24 months, and greater cognitive delays >24 months. CONCLUSION: Compared to subjects with sBPD who did not require tracheostomy, tBPD subjects suffer from increased long-term impairment in respiratory function and neurodevelopment.