The airways of adult survivors of preterm birth are smaller than those of their peers born full-term, thus explaining their worse lung function, suggests a report published online November 29 in Experimental Physiology. Researchers used dysanapsis ratio (DR), an indirect measure that accounts for maximal flow, static recoil and vital capacity, to compare airway size in three groups of adults: those born at least eight weeks premature and had bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), those born at least 8 weeks premature without BPD, and term-born controls matched by age, sex and height. DR was 0.16 for the preterm adults without BPD, 0.10 for the BPD group, and 0.22 for the controls.