Infant respiratory distress syndrome

Infant respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS), also called respiratory distress syndrome of newborn, or increasingly surfactant deficiency disorder (SDD), and previously called hyaline membrane disease (HMD), is a syndrome in premature infants caused by developmental insufficiency of pulmonary surfactant production and structural immaturity in the lungs. It can also be a consequence of neonatal infection and can result from a genetic problem with the production of surfactant-associated proteins.

IRDS affects about 1% of newborns and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. Data have shown the choice of elective caesarean sections to strikingly increase the incidence of respiratory distress in term infants; dating back to 1995, the UK first documented 2,000 annual caesarean section births requiring neonatal admission for respiratory distress. The incidence decreases with advancing gestational age, from about 50% in babies born at 26–28 weeks to about 25% at 30–31 weeks. The syndrome is more frequent in males, Caucasians, infants of diabetic mothers and the second-born of premature twins.

IRDS is distinct from pulmonary hypoplasia, another leading cause of neonatal death that involves respiratory distress.

The European Consensus Guidelines on the Management of Respiratory Distress Syndrome highlight new possibilities for early detection, and therefore treatment of IRDS. The guidelines mention an easy to use rapid point-of-care predictive test that is now available and how lung ultrasound, with appropriate training, expertise and equipment, may offer an alternative way of diagnosing IRDS early.