How being born prematurely affects lung health across life

Being born too early (prematurely) can affect how the lungs grow and function, not only in childhood but throughout a person’s whole life. The lungs continue to develop into early adulthood, so being born before they are fully formed can set children on a different path, or trajectory, of lung health.

A new paper has reviewed the existing evidence to look at what we currently know about lung function changes over time in people born prematurely and how this affects their long-term health.

What did the study look at?

The paper is a review of existing published research that has looked at the lung health of people born prematurely. The paper aimed to summarise what we know about the pattern of lung health and growth and show where there are gaps in research.

The authors included studies where lung function was measured more than once in the same group of people, so they could see how well the lungs were working overtime. Researchers looked at data from several countries and covered babies that were born extremely prematurely (before 28 weeks), very prematurely (28-31 weeks) and moderate-to-late (32-36 weeks).

What did the review highlight?

The review highlights that people born prematurely follow different patterns of lung development compared with those born at the normal stage (full-term). The authors conclude that being born too early can shape lung health for the rest of a person’s life and that these effects may not be known until later in life.

Why is this important?

The authors believe that people born too early need careful, long-term monitoring. This should start in childhood and include regular lung function checks throughout life. Next steps should include understanding which groups are more at risk and more research to spot patterns over time. Finally, the authors call for more studies to test treatments that could help improve lung health over time to reduce the risk of long-term lung conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Learn more about how to keep your lungs healthy and reduce your risk of long-term lung conditions.

Read the original research paper: Trajectories of prematurity-associated lung disease: lifelong lung health