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Controlled Clinical Trial
. 2023 Jul 25;23(1):371.
doi: 10.1186/s12872-023-03360-2.

Cardiovascular health profiles in adolescents being born term or preterm-results from the EVA-Tyrol study

Christoph Hochmayr  1   2 , Jean-Pierre Ndayisaba  3 , Nina Gande  1   2 , Anna Staudt  1   2 , Benoit Bernar  2   4 , Katharina Stock  2   5 , Sophia J Kiechl  2   6 , Ralf Geiger  5 , Elke Griesmaier  1 , Michael Knoflach  7   8 , Ursula Kiechl-Kohlendorfer  9 ; Early Vascular Ageing (EVA) Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations
Controlled Clinical Trial

Cardiovascular health profiles in adolescents being born term or preterm-results from the EVA-Tyrol study

Christoph Hochmayr et al. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Preterm birth has been linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease from childhood into adolescence and early adulthood. In this study, we aimed to investigate differences in CV health profiles between former term- and preterm-born infants in a cohort of Tyrolean adolescents.

Methods: The Early Vascular Aging (EVA)-Tyrol study is a population-based non-randomized controlled trial, which prospectively enrolled 14- to 19-year-old adolescents in North Tyrol, Austria and South Tyrol, Italy between 2015 and 2018. Metrics of CV health (body mass index (BMI), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), smoking, physical activity, dietary patterns, total cholesterol and fasting blood glucose) were assessed and compared between former term- and preterm-born girls and boys.

Results: In total, 1,491 study participants (59.5% female, mean age 16.5 years) were included in the present analysis. SBP and DBP were significantly higher in former preterm-born adolescents (mean gestational age 34.6 ± 2.4 weeks) compared to term-born controls (p < 0.01). In the multivariate regression analysis these findings remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders in all models. No differences were found in all other CV health metrics. The number of participants meeting criteria for all seven health metrics to be in an ideal range was generally very low with 1.5% in former term born vs. 0.9% in former preterm born adolescents (p = 0.583).

Conclusions: Preterm birth is associated with elevated SBP and DBP in adolescence, which was even confirmed for former late preterm-born adolescents in our cohort. Our findings underscore the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles in former term- as well as preterm-born adolescents. In addition, we advise early screening for hypertension and long-term follow-up in the group of preterm-born individuals.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03929692.

Keywords: Adolescents; Cardiovascular health; Health metrics; Health promotion; Preterm birth; Risk factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart for inclusion of study participants
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health determinants in former term- and preterm-born adolescents. Displays the percentages of adolescents by number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics according to being born term or preterm
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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