Prediction of recurrent course of respiratory infections in premature infants

The problem of prevention of frequent respiratory diseases for children remains relevant. Among premature infants, the most vulnerable group are children with very low and extremely low birth weight. Therefore, the development of a clinical prognostic model for the development of respiratory recurrent infections in premature infants may be the basis for creating a preventive program of early intervention. Purpose - to determine the clinical and genetic determinants of the development of recurrent respiratory infections for children born with a body weight less than 1500 g and to develop an algorithm for early prediction of adverse effects. Materials and methods. A cohort prospective study was conducted, which involved 155 children with very low and extremely low body weight. Prediction of the development of recurrent respiratory diseases was performed using simple and step-by-step multiple logistic regression analysis. Genetic methods included polymorphism studies of the GSTP1, GSTT1, GSTM1, ACE, AGT2R1 and eNOS genes. Results. Important predictors of increased morbidity of the examined children in a simple logistic regression analysis were: body weight at 12 months <10 percentile, rickets in the first year of life and artificial feeding at discharge from the neonatal hospital. The study showed no effect of genes polymorphism of the glutathione-S-transferase family and genes of the renin-angiotensin system on the development of recurrent respiratory infections in children with born weight less than 1500 g. Conclusions. The developed model for predicting the recurrent course of respiratory infections for children born with a body weight less than 1500 g has a high specificity (95.35%) and moderate sensitivity (76.90%), which indicates the possibility of its use for a personalized approach to prevention adverse effects. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the participating institution. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.