Blood pressure in newborn term and preterm infants

Abstract

Some physiological and pathophysiological aspects of blood pressure during the neonatal period are discussed in the present review as well as the growing diagnostic importance of its changes in term and preterm infants. The measurement methods, used at various clinics, are briefly summarized, drawing attention to concrete methods of reading blood pressure. The mean values of blood pressure in newborn infants are illustrated in tables according to age, weight at birth and some other factors indicated by various authors. Two pathological deviations of blood pressure are discussed in detail, namely-hypo- and hypertension in newborn infants according to the causes, clinical symptoms and their diagnostic-prognostic significance, calling the attention of neonatologists and pediatricians to some aspects of hemodynamics, which have until very recently been uncoded and diagnostically and therapeutically neglected.