[Hypertension in early school aged children born prematurely with extremely low birth weight].
BACKGROUND
Infants born with extremely low birth weight < or =1000 g (ELBW) are endangered by many complications.


OBJECTIVE
To assess whether infants born prematurely with ELBW are pre. disposed to arterial hypertension (HT) in a 7-year follow up examination.


METHODS
A group of 57 children (38 girls, 19 boys) at the age of 6.6+/-0.4 years was analyzed. Mean gestational age was 27.4+/-2 Hbd. All infants were born with ELBW (the mean weight was 861+/-127 g). The con. trol group consisted of 36 children (19 girls and 15 boys; the mean age was 7+/-0.9 years) born on time, with the mean birth weight 3559 g. The Ambu. latory Blood Pressure Measurement (ABPM) was performed in both groups. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), the night blood pressure (BP) decrease, BP. load, heart rate (HR) and presence of HT were analyzed.


RESULTS
Children born prematurely were significantly shorter than children from the control group (116 vs 125 cm; p<0.0001). HT diagnosis based both on MAP (15% vs 0%; p<0.02) and on BP loads (51% vs 22%; p<0.006), was significantly more common in the group of preterm infants. Moreo. ver, systolic BP-load (28% vs 17%; p<0.01), diastolic BP-load (27% vs 18%; p<0.01), daytime HR (99 vs 94/ min; p=0.01), nighttime HR (86 vs 791 min; p<0.001) and daily HR (93 vs 87/ min; p<0.001) were also significantly higher in the preterm group. Difference in night BP drops in both groups did not reach statistical significance. In the group of former preterms there was no correlation between birth weight or intrauterine growth and BP value. BP values: systolic (105 vs 100 mm Hg; p<0.02), diastolic (66 vs 63 mm Hg; p<0.01) and MAP (80 vs 76 mm Hg; p<0.01) were significantly higher in girls than in boys born prematurely with ELBW.


CONCLUSIONS
Infants born with ELBW are latterly predisposed to HT. Hypertension is more frequent in prematurely born girls. It is important to control BP in this group of children because early diagnose helps to decrease the risk of multiple organ complications caused by HT.
Maja
M
Koziarz
Dorota
D
Drozdz
Tomasz
T
Drozdz
Monika
M
Łatka
Przemko
P
Kwinta
D001827:Body Height; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015984:Causality; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male