[Feasibility study of lung ultrasound in the follow-up of neonatal lung diseases].

OBJECTIVES

To explore the feasibility of lung ultrasound in the follow-up of neonatal lung disease.

METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted of 102 infants with neonatal lung disease who were followed up in the Department of Neonatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from March to July 2025. According to follow-up lung ultrasound results, infants were classified into a normal group and an abnormal group. Baseline and clinical characteristics were compared between groups. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify independent influencing factors of abnormal lung ultrasound at follow-up, and a prediction model was constructed. Its performance for predicting abnormal lung ultrasound at follow-up was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

RESULTS

The median follow-up duration was 32 days, and 58 infants (56.9%) had abnormal lung ultrasound. Significant differences were found between the normal and abnormal groups in gestational age, birth weight, and follow-up duration (all P<0.05). Multivariable logistic regression showed that gestational age (OR=0.617, P<0.001) and follow-up duration (OR=0.976, P<0.001) were independent protective factors against abnormal lung ultrasound at follow-up. ROC analysis indicated that the combined model constructed with gestational age and follow-up duration, logit(P)=17.001-0.025×follow-up duration-0.483×gestational age (where P is the probability of abnormal lung ultrasound at follow-up), achieved an area under the curve of 0.833 (95%CI: 0.758-0.909, P<0.001), with a sensitivity of 62.1% and a specificity of 93.2%. The goodness of fit was good (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Lung ultrasound is feasible for the follow-up of neonatal lung diseases.