Prevalence and factors associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia in a referral hospital in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia at a neonatal intensive care unit.

Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study that used secondary data from premature infants who were born with less than 32 weeks of gestational age and were admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney and multivariate tests were used. Significance was set at p<0.05.

Results: A total of 88 premature infants were included in the study. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia occurred in 27.3% of the infants and was related to having a gestational age below 28 weeks (OR: 4.80; 95% CI: 1.50-15.34; p=0.008) and a patent ductus arteriosus (OR: 3.44; 95% CI: 1.10-10.76; p=0.034). The group with bronchopulmonary dysplasia used mechanical ventilation for a longer duration, with a median of 24.5 days (p<0.0001). At discharge, the corrected and chronological ages were higher in the group with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (p<0.0001), with respective medians of 38.4 weeks and 70.5 days.

Conclusions: In this study, the prevalence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia was high; the high prevalence was related to extreme prematurity, patent ductus arteriosus, a longer period under mechanical ventilation and prolonged hospitalization. The increased survival of infants with low gestational age makes this disorder a public health issue.