Abstract
Aims: To identify associations between reactive airway disease (RAD), eczema, and gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) and antenatal/neonatal variables.
Methods: This is a retrospective observational cohort analysis of former preterm (PT) infants evaluated at the Regional Neonatal Follow-up Program in the Lower Hudson Valley Region of New York. Subjects <2 years evaluated between January 2005 and December 2007 were included. Patient demographics, antenatal factors and co-morbidities of prematurity were correlated with each medical condition.
Results: A total of 727 subjects were analyzed: 12.8% had RAD, 10.5% had eczema; and 26.7% had GERD. RAD and GERD correlated inversely with gestational age.
RAD was more prevalent in singletons and African Americans; GERD in Caucasians; and eczema in singletons and males. Respiratory disease in the newborn period increased the incidence of RAD and GERD. Toddlers who had RAD were likely to have eczema or GERD; no association between GERD and eczema existed.
Conclusions: These three medical conditions were strongly associated. Their association may be the result of a common element developing each condition, or due to one condition exacerbating another. Respiratory problems in the newborn were strong predictors of GERD and RAD.
©2009 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
