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The association between bronchopulmonary dysplasia severity and neurodevelopmental disorders

Journal of Perinatology (2026)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is associated with poor cognition. The association between BPD severity and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) has not been explored. We hypothesized increasing BPD severity is associated with increased risk of NDD.

Study design

We included infants born <32 weeks’ gestation and birth weight <1500 g from 2015 to 2020 and excluded patients lost to follow-up or deceased before three years old. 650 patients were analyzed. BPD severity was defined as respiratory support at 36 weeks postmenstrual age. Risk factors of BPD were assessed. The primary outcome was composite NDD, including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, cerebral palsy, and/or learning disorders. Multiple logistic regression analyzed the association between BPD severity and outcomes, accounting for confounders.

Results

Increased BPD severity showed increased risk of NDD (p < 0.01). In a reduced model, BPD severity remained significant (p = 0.037). Tracheostomy was a risk factor for NDD (p = 0.004).

Conclusions

BPD severity should prompt suspicion for future NDD.

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Data availability

The dataset utilized in this study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, SC, USA

    D. Alex Rueff, Jerica Gee, Amy Ruddy-Humphries, Meghan West, Katherine Chetta & Lakshmi Katikaneni

  2. Pediatric Residency, Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, SC, USA

    Erica Rubin

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  1. D. Alex Rueff
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  7. Lakshmi Katikaneni
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Contributions

DAR: Conceptualization, Data curation, Data collection, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing. JG: Data curation, Data collection, Validation. AR-H: Data curation, Data collection, Validation. MW, NNP: Investigation, Data collection, Validation. ER: Data collection, Validation. KC: Formal analysis, Supervision. LK: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Alex Rueff.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study (Pro00126633) was approved by the Medical University of South Carolina Institutional Review Board for Human Research, and informed consent was waived. All methods in this study were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Rueff, D.A., Gee, J., Ruddy-Humphries, A. et al. The association between bronchopulmonary dysplasia severity and neurodevelopmental disorders. J Perinatol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02372-4

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