PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hartmut Vogt
AU  - Karolina Lindström
AU  - Lennart Bråbäck
AU  - Anders Hjern
TI  - Preterm birth and inhaled corticosteroid usage in 6-19-year-olds – A Swedish national cohort study
DP  - 2011 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - p1504
VI  - 38
IP  - Suppl 55
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1504.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1504.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38
AB  - Objective: Preterm birth is associated with respiratory morbidity later in life, including asthma. Previous studies have mainly focused on asthma in early childhood in children born extremely preterm. In this study we examined the risk of asthma in a national cohort of school children by degree of immaturity expressed as completed gestational weeks at birth.Methods: Register study in a Swedish national cohort of 1 100 826 children 6-19 years old. Retrieval of at least one prescription of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) during 2006 was used as our main indicator for asthma. Logistic regression was used to test hypotheses with adjustment for multiple socio-economic and perinatal indicators.Results: Degree of immaturity, expressed as completed gestational weeks at birth, had an inverse dose-response relationship with ICS usage. Compared to children born between 39 and 41 weeks gestation, the odds ratio for ICS usage increased with the degree of prematurity, from 1.10 (1.08-1.13) for children born in weeks 37-38, to 2.28 (1.96-2.64) for children born in weeks 24-28, after adjustment for socio-economic confounders and perinatal mediators.The increase in ICS usage with decreasing gestational age at delivery was similar in boys and girls and declined with older age.Conclusion: Preterm birth increases the risk of ICS usage in 6-19 year olds by degree of immaturity, all the way from extremely preterm to early term birth.