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High Blood Pressure in 2.5-Year-Old Children Born Extremely Preterm
Pediatrics, 05/10/2012
Bonamy AKE et al. – Children born extremely preterm have elevated office systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at a corrected age of 2.5 years. This finding might have implications for their cardiovascular health later in life.
Methods- In a regional subset of the national population-based cohort Extremely Preterm Infants in Sweden Study, BP at 2.5 years of age was studied in 68 survivors of EXPT, and 65 matched controls born at term.
- At follow-up at 2.5 years of corrected age, EXPT children had significantly higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) z scores than controls born at term, according to pediatric BP nomograms by age, gender, and height.
- The proportion of SBP 90th percentile was 44% (30 of 68) in EXPT children and 23% (15 of 65) in controls (P = .01). In logistic regression analyses stratified according to gender, EXPT was associated with an odds ratio for a SBP >90th percentile of 3.32 (95% confidence interval: 1.25–8.81) among boys.
- The corresponding odds ratio among EXPT girls was 2.18 (95% confidence interval: 0.62–7.61).
- In EXPT children, SBP and DBP z scores were inversely correlated to catch-up growth from 36 weeks’ postmenstrual age to follow-up at 2.5 years of age.