The term “asthma” should be avoided in describing the chronic pulmonary disease of prematurity

The term ''asthma'' should be avoided in describing the chronic pulmonary disease of prematurityTo the Editor:We read with interest the report from KA ¨LLE ´N et al. [1] that preterm birth and (to a lesser extent) restricted intrauterine growth both substantially increase the risk of developing ''childhood asthma''.Their data are interesting, and several plausible hypotheses are advanced to explain the correlation between prematurity (and intrauterine growth restriction) and the development of asthma later on.The term ''asthma'' should be avoided when dealing with ex-preterm and bronchopulmonary dysplasia subjects http://ow.