Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting millions of children in the U.S. and worldwide. Prematurity is a risk factor for asthma, and certain ethnic or racial minorities such as Puerto Ricans and non-Hispanic Blacks are disproportionately affected by both prematurity and asthma. In this review, we examine current evidence to support maternal psychosocial stress as a putative link between prematurity and asthma, while also focusing on disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and immune responses as potential underlying mechanisms for stress-induced “premature asthma”. Prenatal stress may not only cause abnormalities in the HPA axis but also epigenetic changes in the fetal glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1), leading to impaired glucocorticoid metabolism. Moreover, maternal stress can alter fetal cytokine balance, favoring Th2 (allergic) immune responses characteristic of atopic asthma: IL-6, which has been associated with premature labor, can promote Th2 responses by stimulating production of IL-4 and IL-13. Given a link among stress, prematurity, and asthma, future research should include birth cohorts aimed at confirming and better characterizing “premature asthma”. If confirmed, clinical trials of prenatal maternal stress reduction would be warranted to reduce the burden of these common co-morbidities. While awaiting the results of such studies, sound policies to prevent domestic and community violence (e.g. from firearms) are justified, not only by public safety but also by growing evidence of detrimental effects of violence-induced stress on psychiatric and somatic health.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a low-volume, high-risk modality of care. Clinical specialists (CS) who manage ECMO circuit emergencies vary in background and approach to circuit emergencies based on institutional training standards, leading to variation that may impact the quality of care. Validated checklists to assess CS performance are crucial to eliminate disparities and improve efficiency. This study focused on the development and validation of checklists to evaluate the clinical performance of ECMO CS in three ECMO circuit emergencies. A research team with diverse clinical background from our institution developed the first iteration of three ECMO emergency checklists: (1) venous air, (2) arterial air, and (3) oxygenator failure. A modified Delphi technique with a panel of 11 national content experts in ECMO was used to develop content validity evidence. Rating scales from 1 to 7 were used to evaluate each checklist item. The response rate for three rounds of Delphi was 100%. Items with mean score >4 were kept, and new item recommendations were added based on comments from the panel. The venous air, arterial air, and oxygenator failure checklists were revised from 10, 13, and 9 items to 12, 12, and 10 items, respectively. A Cronbach’s α of 0.74 during the second round of responses indicated an acceptable degree of agreement. This study demonstrated content validation of three ECMO emergency checklists to assess performance of ECMO CS using a consensus-based Delphi technique. Future validity evidence should be acquired by implementing these checklists in the simulation environments.

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