Researchers link premature birth to emphysema

LONDON (Reuters) - Some premature babies may have a higher risk of developing emphysema and other lung problems, Australian researchers said on Tuesday.

A small study of 21 infants born up to four months prematurely in the 1980s and weighing as little as 0.6 kilograms showed that by the time they were young adults all had lung problems, including 84 percent who showed areas of emphysema.

"Larger, controlled, population-based studies are urgently required to fully define and guide the management of adult lung disease with extreme preterm birth," Daniel Chambers of the Prince Charles Hospital and Andrew Wilson of the Princess Margaret and Royal Perth Hospitals in Australia said in the study published in the European Respiratory Journal.

Emphysema is a progressive lung condition in which the walls between the alveoli, or air sacs, lose their ability to stretch and recoil. Smoking is the main cause, although genes also play a role.

The most common symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) -- which include chronic bronchitis and emphysema -- include shortness of breath, coughing and a limited ability to exercise.

Treating COPD, which affects an estimated 210 million people worldwide, is a major market for GlaxoSmithKline's Advair and one AstraZeneca is hoping to cut into with its rival medicine Symbicort.

The young adults in the study were born between 1980 and 1987 and were dependent on supplementary oxygen for more than 28 days during their stay in the hospital.

The researchers said it was surprising that so many of the volunteers had areas of emphysema, and this may be because they were born so prematurely,

With major improvements in neo-natal care helping more babies survive extreme prematurity, the findings mean doctors will have to pay more attention to the birth history of people born so prematurely, as they may be at higher risk of lung disease as they grow up.

The findings also underscore the extra risks of smoking for people who were born prematurely, the researchers said.

"This study reinforces the importance of stopping, or preferably never taking up, cigarette smoking, particularly if there is a history of preterm birth," the researchers wrote.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn, Editing by Maggie Fox and Robert Hart)