Study finds daycare linked to increased complications in preterm children with chronic lung disease

Jul 28, 2022

New Delhi, July 28 (ANI): According to a new study, attending daycare in the first three years of life is linked with an increase in lung complications in children who were born prematurely and diagnosed with a form of chronic lung disease. The findings were published in a journal, 'The Journal of Paediatrics. The data drawn from nine speciality centres across the United States found that preterm children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) who attend daycare were more likely to visit the emergency department, use systemic steroids and have chronic respiratory symptoms compared with children not in daycare. "Preterm children born with BPD have a short window to improve their lung function trajectory, so we are always looking for ways to minimize exposures in early childhood to prevent lung function problems in adult life," said lead author Sharon McGrath-Morrow, MD, MBA, Associate Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine and leader of the Post-preemie Lung Disease Clinic at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "This study shows that daycare is a modifiable risk factor that is linked with poorer.outcomes in preterm children with BPD," he added. Several prior studies have shown an association between daycare attendance and increased risk of respiratory complications in very low birth weight children. However, those studies focused on a single center or location and thus the results weren't generalizable across the population.