Background <p>Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a prevalent chronic pulmonary condition among premature infants, and different ventilation supports may lead to different incidence rates of BPD. Studies have shown that ICAM-1 and IL-8 are abnormally expressed in BPD. The objective of this research is to elucidate the influence of varying modes of ventilator support on BPD, in addition to exploring the associations between ICAM-1, IL-8, and BPD.</p> Methods <p>The prevalence of BPD was assessed in premature infants undergoing non-invasive ventilation support and invasive ventilation support. Serum ICAM-1 and IL-8 levels (collected on day 30 after ventilation support) in infants with or without BPD were measured, and their correlation with BPD was analyzed. The predictive value of ICAM-1 and IL-8 for bronchopulmonary dysplasia was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.</p> Results <p>Results suggested that invasive ventilation significantly increased the incidence of BPD. Gestational age, birth weight, and Apgar scores were negatively correlated with BPD, whereas intraamniotic infection was positively correlated with BPD; all these differences were statistically significant between the BPD and non-BPD groups. Moreover, elevated levels of ICAM-1 and IL-8 were significantly associated with BPD. In addition, ICAM-1, IL-8 and the combined ICAM-1 + IL-8 assessment showed high discriminatory ability for BPD (AUC = 0.895, 0.909, and 0.918, respectively), among which the combined assessment had the highest discriminatory ability.</p> Conclusion <p>We demonstrated that invasive ventilation was associated with a higher incidence of BPD. ICAM-1 and IL-8 levels were increased in BPD, which may serve as biomarkers associated with BPD. This study highlights the potential of combining ICAM-1 and IL-8 for BPD identification and risk assessment, though prospective validation is needed.</p>