Extract
An estimated 15 million babies (∼11%) are born preterm each year (before 37 weeks of gestation), the rates of which are increasing worldwide [1]. Enhanced perinatal care, including antenatal corticosteroids, postnatal surfactant and improved respiratory management, have markedly improved survival outcomes since the 1990s, particularly for babies born very preterm (<32 weeks gestation) [1]. However, long-term pulmonary sequelae are frequent in preterm survivors and ongoing clinical management is often required. Development and severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung condition diagnosed during the neonatal period [2], is a key determinant of long-term adverse outcomes of prematurity.
Abstract
Infants surviving preterm birth have persistent and potentially progressive respiratory health issues throughout life. PELICAN has been launched as an ERS Clinical Research Collaboration to understand the pulmonary consequences of surviving preterm birth. https://bit.ly/3q3DiHn
Footnotes
Members of the PELICAN Scientific Steering Committee are: Shannon J. Simpson (chair), Jenny Hallberg (chair), Amber Bates (community partner), Lex Doyle, Thomas Halvorsen, John Hurst, Sailesh Kotecha, Enrico Lombardi, Sanja Stanojevic and Petra Um Bergstrom (Early Career member).
Support statement: This work was supported by the European Respiratory Society. Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registry.
Conflict of Interest: S.J. Simpson reports grants from European Respiratory Society during the conduct of the study.
Conflict of Interest: J. Hallberg has nothing to disclose.
- Received December 2, 2020.
- Accepted February 19, 2021.
- Copyright ©The authors 2021. For reproduction rights and permissions contact permissions{at}ersnet.org