Neonatal ventilatory support and respiratory diseases in children up to six years of age: the 2004 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort study.

The study's objective was to evaluate the association between neonatal ventilatory support and the subsequent occurrence of respiratory diseases in children up to six years of age. This was a population-based birth cohort study. The main exposure was ventilatory support at birth, defined as the use of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) and/or mechanical ventilation (MV) for more than three hours from the time of hospitalization at birth until the first 28 days of life. Outcomes were: chest wheezing in the twelve months prior to the follow-up interview, medical diagnosis of asthma any time in the child´s life, and occurrence of pneumonia up to six years of age. Crude and adjusted analyses for potential confounding variables were performed using Poisson regression. 3,624 children were analyzed. NCPAP plus MV or MV alone was associated with higher frequency of medical diagnosis of asthma, even after adjusting for maternal and child characteristics (PR = 2.24; 95%CI: 1.27-3.99). The results highlight medium-term respiratory complications associated with neonatal ventilatory support.