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

Objective: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.study design: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.result: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.conclusion:in contrast to full-term infants, slower fetal growth was not associated with higher bp in former preterm, low birth weight infants.