Home oxygen therapy. Outcome of infants discharged from NICU on continuous treatment.

Forty-four oxygen-dependent infants were discharged home in oxygen from an NICU during an 8-year period. Survivors were followed for 3 years. The infants' discharge diagnoses were bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) (39), sleep apnea (2), and congenital cardiac defects (3). The five infants who had diagnoses other than BPD all died, but 34 of 39 infants with BPD survived. Supplemental oxygen was discontinued at a mean age of 13.4 months. The infants with BPD experienced health, growth, nutritional, neurodevelopmental and sensory problems that necessitated frequent rehospitalizations and utilization of a variety of medical and support services.