Asynchronous or paradoxic motion between the rib cage and abdomen may be seen in infants with lung disease. We have recently shown that after bronchodilator administration, the degree of asynchrony decreases proportionately to the improvement in lung mechanics. However, whether such thoraco-abdominal asynchrony (TAA) is a useful indicator of lung function in a cross-sectional population, i.e., whether asynchrony correlates with baseline lung mechanics, is unknown. Therefore, we quantitated the degree of TAA using respiratory inductive plethysmography during quiet sleep in ten infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and six weight-matched control infants. We displayed abdominal wall (AB) and rib cage (RC) motion on an X-Y recorder, and from the tidal breathing loop we calculated a phase angle phi, between 0 degrees and 180 degrees as an index of asynchrony (synchronous RC/AB motion = 0 degrees, paradox = 180 degrees). Lung resistance (RL) and compliance/kg (CL/kg) were calculated from esophageal and mouth pressure, tidal volume, and tidal flow. As expected, BPD infants had abnormally high RL, and low CL/kg when compared to controls. All infants with BPD displayed marked thoraco-abdominal asynchrony (phi = 102 +/- 16 degrees, mean +/- SEM; range 35 degrees-160 degrees) with controls displayed synchronous chest wall motion (phi = 8 +/- 3 degrees, range 0 degrees-15 degrees) (P less than 0.001). The degree of TAA was significantly correlated with RL (r = 0.773, P less than 0.001) and inversely correlated with CL/kg (r = -0.67, P less than 0.01). We conclude that in infants of similar weight, TAA may be used as a cross-sectional index reflecting both resistive and elastic properties of the lungs.