Need for home oxygen in premature infants living in the city of Bogotá.

In Colombia, there are Kangaroo Mother Care Programs (KMCP) for the follow-up of premature infants discharged early from neonatal units. In Bogotá, a considerable number of these children require oxygen at home. These infants are followed in KMCP where, in addition to controlling growth and development, oxygen saturation is monitored and weaning from oxygen supplements is performed. The results obtained are particularly good. However, it is striking that more than half of the children who require oxygen at home are more than 32 weeks of gestational age, and most of them meet the criteria for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. There are several reasons that could justify this finding. On the one hand, if the hospital stay is shortened, as is the case with KMCP programs, it is more likely that some preterm infants need oxygen at discharge. On the other hand, the use of noninvasive ventilation is extremely limited and invasive ventilation continues to be used very frequently, which is associated with lung damage and the need for oxygen. Finally, we must not forget that Bogotá is 2600 m above sea level, and this can lead to a more difficult adaptation of premature infants. It is not clear how much each of the above factors contributes. It would be desirable to have more information to better understand the particularities of premature children in the city of Bogotá.