%0 Journal Article %A Simon Drysdale %A Mireia Alcazar %A Therese Wilson %A Melvyn Smith %A Mark Zuckerman %A Simon Broughton %A Gerrard F. Rafferty %A Sebastian Johnston %A Anne Greenough %T Small airway function in prematurely born infants following viral infection %D 2011 %J European Respiratory Journal %P p502 %V 38 %N Suppl 55 %X Aim: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in prematurely born infants have been associated with abnormalities of lung function at follow up, there is some preliminary evidence to suggest other viral infections may have a similar adverse effect. The aim of this study was to determine whether lung clearance index (LCI), an assessment of small airway function, differed between infants who had had an RSV LRTI, another viral LRTI or no LRTI.Methods: 78 infants born at less than 36 weeks of gestational age were prospectively followed. A nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) was obtained every time the infants had a LRTI regardless of whether this was in hospital or in the community. NPAs were tested for RSV A and B, Rhinovirus, human Metapneumovirus, Parainfluenza 1-3, Influenza A and B and Adenovirus. LCI was measured by the multiple breath wash-out technique at one year corrected age. Recruitment of at least 12 infants into each group allowed us to detect a difference in the LCI results of 0.7 between the groups (80% power, 5% level).Results: Seventy two infants had acceptable measurements: 13 infants developed RSV LRTIs (RSV group), 17 infants other viral LRTIs (other viral group) and 34 infants no LRTI (no LRTI group). There were no significant differences in the LCI results of the three groups (RSV group mean [SD] 7.24 [0.44]; other viral group 7.0 [0.64]; no LRTI group 7.25 [0.63] (p=0.69).Conclusion: These results suggest viral infections are not associated with increased small airway abnormalities at follow up during infancy of prematurely born infants. %U