MedWire News: Adults with a history of very low (VL) or moderately low (ML) birth weight (BW) are at increased risk for hospitalization for respiratory illness, show study results.

Since the mid-1980s, the proportion of babies born with a low or VL BW has increased by over 20 percent in the USA, with a calculated 65 percent survival to adulthood for these babies. The results of the current study therefore suggest a looming public health issue.

Eric Walter (University of Washington, Seattle, USA) and co-authors identified 4,674 patients with linked birth records who were hospitalized for a respiratory illness during 1998-2007 within Washington. There were four randomly selected controls matched by birth year per patient.

Patients with a history of VLBW (<1,500 g) or MLBW (1,500–2,499 g) were more likely to be hospitalized for a respiratory illness as young adults than those with normal birth weights (odds ratio [OR] = 1.83 and 1.34, respectively). This association remained after adjustment for birth year, gender, maternal age, race, residence, and marital status.

Commenting on the study results, the researchers say: “In our study, the population attributable risk percent was estimated to be 1.8 percent. If this were extrapolated to the 1.2 million US hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses per year for ages 18-44, LBW may account for over 21,000 adult hospitalizations per year, which charges in excess of $225/€161/£139 million per year.”

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