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Association of Preterm Birth with Long-term Risk of Heart Failure into Adulthood

Crump, Casey LU ; Groves, Alan ; Sundquist, Jan LU and Sundquist, Kristina LU (2021) In JAMA Pediatrics 175(7). p.689-697
Abstract

Importance: Preterm birth has been associated with increased risk of heart failure (HF) early in life, but its association with new-onset HF in adulthood appears to be unknown. Objective: To determine whether preterm birth is associated with increased risk of HF from childhood into mid-adulthood in a large population-based cohort. Design, Setting, and Participants: This national cohort study was conducted in Sweden with data from 1973 through 2015. All singleton live births in Sweden during 1973 through 2014 were included. Exposures: Gestational age at birth, identified from nationwide birth records. Main Outcomes and Measures: Heart failure, as identified from inpatient and outpatient diagnoses through 2015. Cox regression was used to... (More)

Importance: Preterm birth has been associated with increased risk of heart failure (HF) early in life, but its association with new-onset HF in adulthood appears to be unknown. Objective: To determine whether preterm birth is associated with increased risk of HF from childhood into mid-adulthood in a large population-based cohort. Design, Setting, and Participants: This national cohort study was conducted in Sweden with data from 1973 through 2015. All singleton live births in Sweden during 1973 through 2014 were included. Exposures: Gestational age at birth, identified from nationwide birth records. Main Outcomes and Measures: Heart failure, as identified from inpatient and outpatient diagnoses through 2015. Cox regression was used to determine hazard ratios (HRs) for HF associated with gestational age at birth while adjusting for other perinatal and maternal factors. Cosibling analyses assessed for potential confounding by unmeasured shared familial (genetic and/or environmental) factors. Results: A total of 4193069 individuals were included (maximum age, 43 years; median age, 22.5 years). In 85.0 million person-years of follow-up, 4158 persons (0.1%) were identified as having HF (median [interquartile range] age, 15.4 [28.0] years at diagnosis). Preterm birth (gestational age <37 weeks) was associated with increased risk of HF at ages younger than 1 year (adjusted HR [aHR], 4.49 [95% CI, 3.86-5.22]), 1 to 17 years (aHR, 3.42 [95% CI, 2.75-4.27]), and 18 to 43 years (aHR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.19-1.71]) compared with full-term birth (gestational age, 39-41 weeks). At ages 18 through 43 years, the HRs further stratified by gestational age were 4.72 (95% CI, 2.11-10.52) for extremely preterm births (22-27 weeks), 1.93 (95% CI, 1.37-2.71) for moderately preterm births (28-33 weeks), 1.24 (95% CI, 1.00-1.54) for late preterm births (34-36 weeks), and 1.09 (95% CI, 0.97-1.24) for early term births (37-38 weeks). The corresponding HF incidence rates (per 100000 person-years) at ages 18 through 43 years were 31.7, 13.8, 8.7, and 7.3, respectively, compared with 6.6 for full-term births. These associations persisted when excluding persons with structural congenital cardiac anomalies. The associations at ages 18 through 43 years (but not <18 years) appeared to be largely explained by shared determinants of preterm birth and HF within families. Preterm birth accounted for a similar number of HF cases among male and female individuals. Conclusions and Relevance: In this large national cohort, preterm birth was associated with increased risk of new-onset HF into adulthood. Survivors of preterm birth may need long-term clinical follow-up into adulthood for risk reduction and monitoring for HF.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
JAMA Pediatrics
volume
175
issue
7
pages
689 - 697
publisher
American Medical Association
external identifiers
  • scopus:85103563141
  • pmid:33818601
ISSN
2168-6203
DOI
10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0131
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fc574809-3dc1-4cfb-a419-f6ba95e0f173
date added to LUP
2021-04-13 14:32:37
date last changed
2024-04-06 02:14:19
@article{fc574809-3dc1-4cfb-a419-f6ba95e0f173,
  abstract     = {{<p>Importance: Preterm birth has been associated with increased risk of heart failure (HF) early in life, but its association with new-onset HF in adulthood appears to be unknown. Objective: To determine whether preterm birth is associated with increased risk of HF from childhood into mid-adulthood in a large population-based cohort. Design, Setting, and Participants: This national cohort study was conducted in Sweden with data from 1973 through 2015. All singleton live births in Sweden during 1973 through 2014 were included. Exposures: Gestational age at birth, identified from nationwide birth records. Main Outcomes and Measures: Heart failure, as identified from inpatient and outpatient diagnoses through 2015. Cox regression was used to determine hazard ratios (HRs) for HF associated with gestational age at birth while adjusting for other perinatal and maternal factors. Cosibling analyses assessed for potential confounding by unmeasured shared familial (genetic and/or environmental) factors. Results: A total of 4193069 individuals were included (maximum age, 43 years; median age, 22.5 years). In 85.0 million person-years of follow-up, 4158 persons (0.1%) were identified as having HF (median [interquartile range] age, 15.4 [28.0] years at diagnosis). Preterm birth (gestational age &lt;37 weeks) was associated with increased risk of HF at ages younger than 1 year (adjusted HR [aHR], 4.49 [95% CI, 3.86-5.22]), 1 to 17 years (aHR, 3.42 [95% CI, 2.75-4.27]), and 18 to 43 years (aHR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.19-1.71]) compared with full-term birth (gestational age, 39-41 weeks). At ages 18 through 43 years, the HRs further stratified by gestational age were 4.72 (95% CI, 2.11-10.52) for extremely preterm births (22-27 weeks), 1.93 (95% CI, 1.37-2.71) for moderately preterm births (28-33 weeks), 1.24 (95% CI, 1.00-1.54) for late preterm births (34-36 weeks), and 1.09 (95% CI, 0.97-1.24) for early term births (37-38 weeks). The corresponding HF incidence rates (per 100000 person-years) at ages 18 through 43 years were 31.7, 13.8, 8.7, and 7.3, respectively, compared with 6.6 for full-term births. These associations persisted when excluding persons with structural congenital cardiac anomalies. The associations at ages 18 through 43 years (but not &lt;18 years) appeared to be largely explained by shared determinants of preterm birth and HF within families. Preterm birth accounted for a similar number of HF cases among male and female individuals. Conclusions and Relevance: In this large national cohort, preterm birth was associated with increased risk of new-onset HF into adulthood. Survivors of preterm birth may need long-term clinical follow-up into adulthood for risk reduction and monitoring for HF.</p>}},
  author       = {{Crump, Casey and Groves, Alan and Sundquist, Jan and Sundquist, Kristina}},
  issn         = {{2168-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{689--697}},
  publisher    = {{American Medical Association}},
  series       = {{JAMA Pediatrics}},
  title        = {{Association of Preterm Birth with Long-term Risk of Heart Failure into Adulthood}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0131}},
  doi          = {{10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0131}},
  volume       = {{175}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}