Fitness to fly testing in term and ex-preterm babies without bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Bossley CJ et al. – Ex–preterm babies without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and who are at least 3 months corrected gestational age (CGA) do not appear to be a particularly at–risk group for air travel, and routine preflight testing is not indicated. Feeding babies in an FiO2 of 0.15 leads to a further fall in oxygen saturation (SpO2), which is significant but transient.

Methods

• Ex-preterm (without BPD) and term infants had fitness to fly tests (including a period of feeding) at 3 or 6 months corrected gestational age (CGA) in a body plethysmograph with an FiO2 of 0.15 for 20 min.
• A ‘failed’ test was defined as oxygen saturation (SpO2) <90% for at least 2 min.

Results

• 41 term and 30 ex-preterm babies (mean gestational age 39.8 and 33.1 weeks, respectively) exhibited a significant median drop in SpO2; there was no difference between term versus ex-preterm babies, or 3 versus 6 months.
• Two term (5%) and two ex-preterm (7%) babies failed the challenge.
• The SpO2 dropped further during feeding, with transient desaturation (up to 30 s) <90% seen in 8/36 (22%) term and 9/28 (32%) ex-preterm infants; the ex-preterm babies desaturated more quickly (median 1 vs 3 min, p=0.002).

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