[The degree of the severity of the course of acute lung diseases in newborn infants in the early neonatal period].

In a prospective clinical investigation, a comparative evaluation was done of degrees of severity of most commonly encountered acute lung disorders in 95 newborn infants who had been treated in the Lviv Regional Neonatal Centre. It has been ascertained that particular features of the course of acute lung diseases in early neonatal period are determined by gravity of the affection of the lung that can be assessed with the aid of the calculable index. The newborn babies aged 11 to 23 h presenting with respiratory distress syndrome displayed significant differences in values for the lung affection severity index, the same being true of those children having been dying at a later age or surviving with subsequent bronchopulmonary dysplasia being formed. The above index can be used in the differential diagnosis of lung diseases, it has also prognostic significance for assessment of risk of death in a child or that of subsequent development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.