Population characteristics and early respiratory morbidity
The children born preterm had a median gestational age at birth of 26
weeks+1 day, 73% were born extremely preterm, i.e. before 28 weeks, and
63% had a diagnosis of BPD (Table 1). In comparison to children born
preterm without BPD, children with BPD had a lower gestational age at
birth, a lower birth weight and were more often male. In the neonatal
period, they were more often treated with surfactant and were more often
mechanically ventilated and for longer periods (E-table 1). Smoking
during early pregnancy was only reported in 13% of mothers to preterm
infants.