By Megan Rauscher

BOSTON (Reuters Health) Oct 21 - Results of a prospective study reported to the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference this week do not support delaying immunizations in premature infants for fear of an increased risk of apnea and bradycardia (A&B).

In an interview with Reuters Health, lead researcher Dr. Richard C. Lussky of the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis said recent reports in the literature suggest that there may be an increase in the rate and/or severity of A&B spells in premature infants after their first set of immunizations.

"Many of these reports, which had methodological flaws, recommended that consideration be given to delaying immunizations in premature infants. This shocked me," Dr. Lussky said. "These are high-risk patients to begin with and we should not be even conjecturing about not immunizing them. And as a clinician, I wasn't seeing this increase in A&B spells," he added.

Currently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that premature infants be immunized as if they were full term. "Therefore, an infant born 4 months prematurely is immunized 2 months before their due date," Dr. Lussky noted.

He and his colleagues are evaluating the effects of inactivated polio vaccine, Haemophilus influenza B vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine, and diptheria-acellular pertussis-tetanus (DaPT) vaccine on A&B spells in an ongoing prospective study.

Data on roughly 30 premature infants evaluated thus far show no change in A&B spells or oxygenation status pre- and post-immunization.

Roughly half of the infants experienced a "small increase" in respiratory rate post-immunization and Dr. Lussky admits he's not sure why but said "it wasn't related to temperature." In addition, 14% and 21% of infants, respectively, had an increased need for nebulizations and supplemental oxygen post-immunizations.

Based on this study, Dr. Lussky told Reuters Health that "premature infants should be immunized" according to current AAP guidelines.

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