Incidence of metabolic bone disease in preterm infants of birth weight <1250 g and in those suffering from bronchopulmonary dysplasia

SummaryBackground & aimsPreterm infants are exposed to a higher risk of developing Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) with an increased bone fragility, a higher fracture risk and a long-term reduced linear growth and childhood height. Monitoring bone growth has become mandatory in neonatology. Several risk factors have been identified among the population of extremely low birth weight infants, but we still do not know which is the real incidence of MBD since its evaluation is not routinely performed worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of MBD in preterm infants and in those suffering from bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).MethodsProspective evaluation of patients who developed BPD (BPD group) versus infants who did not develop it (no-BPD group). We examined, in preterms