[Airway resistance and urinary LTE4 in children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Preliminary report].

Objective: To assess airway resistance values and urinary leukotriene E4 (LTE4) concentrations before and after salbutamol inhalation in children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Material And Methods: Children with BPD were cross-sectionally studied to measure airway resistance by the interrupter technique (Rint), before and after inhaling 200 ig salbutamol, and to quantify urinary leukotriene E4 (LTE4) by immunoassay.

Results: Thirty one children with BPD (15 females) aged between 3 months and 9 years were studied. Our results showed that LTE4 did not correlate with Rint values (r = 0.12, p = 0.52) even after adjusting by gender, atopy history, steroid use, and gastroesophageal reflux. Likewise, LTE4 did not correlate with the degree of the airway response to salbutamol (r = -0.13, p = 0.50). A strong inverse association between age and Rint (r = -0.58, p < 0.001) was observed.

Conclusion: We concluded that urinary LTE, did not correlate with airway resistance or with the response to a bronchodilator drug in children with BPD, suggesting that leukotrienes are not involved in airway obstruction in this disease.