Prenatal and perinatal predictors of blood pressure at school age in former preterm, low birth weight infants

• Published in: Journal of perinatology Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 265 - 269
• Main Authors: Belfort, M B, Gillman, M W, McCormick, M C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Nature Publishing Group 01.04.2012
• Subjects: Age; Birth Weight; Blood Pressure; Child; Child, Preschool; Complications; Confidence intervals; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes mellitus; Female; Fetus; Fetuses; Gestational Age; Growth; Health aspects; Humans; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - etiology; Infant; Infant, Low Birth Weight; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature, Diseases - diagnosis; Infants; Infants (Premature); Longitudinal Studies; Low-birth-weight; Male; Neonates; Newborn babies; Outcome Assessment (Health Care); Perinatal Care; Pre-eclampsia; Pregnancy; Premature babies; Prenatal Care; Risk Factors; Sociodemographics; United States; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0743-8346; 1476-5543
• DOI: 10.1038/jp.2011.88

The objective of this study is to investigate prenatal and perinatal determinants of school age blood pressure (BP) in former preterm, low birth weight infants. We studied 694 participants in the Infant Health and Development Program, an eight-center longitudinal study of children born ≤ 37 weeks and ≤ 2500  g. We obtained information about prenatal and perinatal factors by interview and medical record review, and measured BP three times at age 6.5 years. Adjusting for sex, age, sociodemographic variables and height Z-score; for each Z-score birth weight for gestational age-which represents fetal growth-systolic BP at 6.5 years was 0.7  mm  Hg higher (95% confidence interval -0.1, 1.6). Maternal age, pre-pregnancy weight, gestational weight gain, smoking, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and child gestational age and neonatal complications were also not associated with BP. In contrast to full-term infants, slower fetal growth was not associated with higher BP in former preterm, low birth weight infants.