Growth in post-viral chronic lung disease.

Acute lower respiratory infection due to adenovirus is an important cause of chronic lung disease (CLD) in infants. The objectives of this paper is to describe growth in the height and weight of children with post-viral chronic lung disease (PVCLD) and to relate it with associated variables (invasive mechanical ventilation, chronic hypercapnia, oxygen therapy at home and steroid treatment). Ninety-nine patients with diagnosis of PVCLD with one or more years of follow-up were included in the study. The median duration of follow-up was 3.10 years. The median age at onset of the disease was 0.50 years. According to the growth in height, there were 48 children with normal growth (Type A) and 50 with slow growth (Type B) followed by catch-up growth ( N=45) or normal growth velocity ( N=5); only one patient showed persistent slow growth. Chronic hypercapnia was a risk factor significantly associated to slow growth, with odds ratio, OR: 5.03; and 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.83/13.83. Patients with higher weight for height at the end of the slow-growth period showed greater gains in height during the following period ( r=0.46). Growth in children with PVCLD is heterogeneous but, in the majority of individual cases, it can be considered satisfactory. Chronic hypercapnia was associated with slow growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]