According to UNICEF, about 9% of children in Uzbekistan are born prematurely. For them, the first months of life are not only about gaining weight and adapting to home: a premature baby’s lungs are still maturing, making the child more vulnerable to respiratory diseases. On the occasion of World Prematurity Day, Podrobno.uz spoke with Furkat Shamsiev, MD, professor, chief pediatric pulmonologist at Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health and head of the pulmonology department at the Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Medical Center of Pediatrics in Tashkent, about how the respiratory system of such babies develops and what parents can do to protect it.
Key Takeaways: About 9% of children in Uzbekistan are born prematurely. According to the WHO, RSV causes more than 3.6 million hospitalizations and about 100,000 deaths among children under 5 worldwide; in Uzbekistan, 27.1% of positive respiratory virus tests among patients with severe acute respiratory infections in the 2025/26 season were attributed to RSV.
For a pulmonologist, prematurity first of all means that a child begins to breathe independently before the lungs are fully prepared. Shamsiev said lungs develop gradually, and the earlier birth occurs, the less time the respiratory system has had to prepare for independent work. Therefore some children need oxygen after birth, some require artificial ventilation, and some develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Yet breathing problems are not necessarily lifelong: lungs continue to grow and develop after birth. In the first months, however, the respiratory system is still gaining strength, so infections, polluted air and other stresses may be tolerated less easily.
After discharge, a child is strong enough to be at home, but the respiratory system continues to develop, so doctors look not only at weight gain and overall development, but also at how the baby breathes and tolerates respiratory infections. For a premature baby, these infections pose a particular risk: the airways are still very narrow, lung tissue continues to mature, and respiratory reserve is lower than in a full-term infant. If bronchopulmonary dysplasia has developed, the burden on the lungs can be even higher, so even a comparatively small swelling of the airways can noticeably complicate breathing, and such swelling is most often caused by respiratory viruses.
Among respiratory viruses, RSV occupies a special place: it remains the leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections in children worldwide and can cause bronchiolitis, with premature infants in a higher-risk group for severe disease. According to Shamsiev, about 70% of children contract RSV during the first year of life, and by age two almost every child has been infected; in babies born early, it may affect the lower airways. Uzbekistan has no separate data on RSV morbidity among premature infants, but general epidemiological data show the infection circulates widely. The next step is continued pediatric monitoring of breathing and tolerance to respiratory infections in these children.
Source: podrobno.uz