title: Prenatal and perinatal predictors of blood pressure at school age in former preterm, low birth weight infants.
abstract: 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In contrast to full-term infants, slower fetal growth was not associated with higher BP in former preterm, low birth weight infants.
authors: Division of Newborn Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. mandy.belfort@childrens.harvard.edu
authors: M B
authors: MB
authors: Belfort
authors: M W
authors: MW
authors: Gillman
authors: M C
authors: MC
authors: McCormick
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D018743:Perinatal Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States