Study Population
Figure 1 shows the derivation of the study cohort. A total of 45 infants
were included in this study. Of the 57 patients with previous iPFTs, 35
met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Fourteen infants followed at
the CF Center at Riley were eligible for iPFTs for the prospective
cohort during the study period and the parents of 12 infants (87%)
agreed to testing. Eleven infants ultimately underwent iPFT, of which 10
(91%) yielded research-quality data. Clinical characteristics of the
cohort are described in Table 1. The majority of infants were Caucasian
(95.6%) and had homozygous Class I, II or III mutations (93.1%). The
most common respiratory infection detected was methicillin-sensitiveStaphylococcus aureus (66.7%) and 35.6% of the cohort had a
history of at least one positive Pa respiratory culture. Oral antibiotic
use in the first year was high, with 91.1% of infants receiving at
least one course and a median of 2 courses of antibiotics.