Table 1.
Effect of prematurity alone or prematurity with IUGR on postnatal kidney growth, morphology, and programming of renal dysfunction and blood pressure.
| Author (reference) | Country | Study design | Summary of reported findings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rodríguezet al. [39] | USA | An autopsy study of 56 extremely premature infants (n = 42 AGA, and n = 14 SGA) | Decreased RGC in premature AGA versus term Increased mesangial tuft area and Bowman's capsule area in preterm surviving >40 days without RF versus term or preterm surviving <40 days with or without RF |
| Keijzer-Veenet al. [40] | Netherlands | Determination of renal size at 20 years of age by ultrasonography in 81 individuals born preterm AGA, (n = 29), SGA (n = 22), or term (n = 30) | Decreased kidney size in both preterm AGA and SGA versus term. No difference in kidney size between AGA and SGA preterm |
| Drougia et al. [18] | Greece | Determination of kidney length at 2 years of chronologic age in 466 children (n = 223 AGA and n = 243 SGA) | Decreased kidney length in preterm SGA (<36 weeks of GA) versus preterm AGA |
| Schmidt et al. [20] | Denmark | Determination of kidney volume by ultrasonography at birth and at 18 months of age in preterm or term SGA (n = 178) versus term AGA (n = 717) | Reduced kidney volume at birth and 18 month of age in premature AGA versus term AGA and in preterm SGA versus preterm AGA. |
| Sutherland et al. [41] | Australia | Determination of kidney morphology on autopsy in 28 preterm neonates at 2–68 days after birth and 32 stillborn gestational controls | Higher percentage of enlarged glomeruli in preterm versus controls, no difference in kidney weight in preterm SGA versus preterm AGA |
| Hinchliffe et al. [22] | UK | Determination of total glomerular number and volume in stillborn AGA and SGA neonates, in liveborn AGA, and SGA infants who died within 1 year of birth | Decreased glomerular number in SGA versus AGA in both stillborn and those who died within 1 year after birth, no difference in glomerular volume |
| Gubhaju et al. [42] | Australia | Determination of kidney and glomerular size, glomerular density, glomerular morphology and number, and number of glomerular generations in preterm baboons studied after 21 days of extrauterine life versus GA-matched controls | Larger kidneys, decreased glomerular density, enlarged glomeruli, shrunken glomerular tuft, and cystic Bowman's space in preterm versus controls No difference in total number of glomeruli or number of glomerular generations |
| Stelloh et al. [35] | USA | Determination of the effect of preterm delivery at 1-2 days prior to term birth in mice on glomerular number, blood pressure, measured GFR, and urine albumin/creatinine ratio at 5 weeks of age | A 20% decrease in glomerular number, increased blood pressure, lower GFR and higher urine albumin/creatinine ratio in preterm versus term |
| Keijzer-Veen et al. [43] | Netherlands | Determination of blood pressure at 19 years of age in 422 individuals with GA < 32 weeks and in 174 individuals with GA > 32 weeks and birth weight <1500 g | Increased prevalence of elevated blood pressure in GA < 32 weeks versus GA > 32 weeks not related with IUGR, increased postnatal weight gain and weight at age of 19 affected the risk for hypertension |
| Singhal et al. [44] | UK | Determination of blood pressure and flow-mediated endothelial-dependent vasodilation (EDV) in preterm SGA (n = 72), preterm AGA (n = 144), and term AGA (n = 61) individuals at age 13–16 years | No difference in blood pressure among all groups and reduced EDV in preterm SGA versus preterm or term AGA |
| Leon et al. [45] | Sweden | Record linkage study of 165;136 men studied at mean age of 18 years | Inverse association of blood pressure with GA alone or with GA adjusted for birth weight (SGA) and increased inverse association of blood pressure in SGA versus AGA |
| Kistner et al. [46] | Sweden | Determination of systolic ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) at a mean age of 26 ± 2 years in woman born term SGA (n = 18), with term AGA (n = 17), and preterm AGA (n = 14) | Higher systolic ABP in preterm AGA versus term AGA or term SGA, no difference in term SGA versus term AGA |
| Cheung et al. [47] | China | Determination of mean blood pressure and brachioradial artery pulse wave velocity (PWV) in ex-preterm SGA (n = 15), preterm AGA (n = 36), and term AGA (n = 35) children at 8 ± 1.7 years of age | Higher mean blood pressure and PWV in preterm SGA versus preterm or term AGA |
| Keijzer-Veen et al. [31] | Netherlands | Determination of GFR and urine albumin/creatinine ratio at 19 years of age in individuals with GA < 32 weeks SGA (n = 215) or AGA (n = 207) | Decreased GFR and increased prevalence of high albumin/creatinine ratio in preterm SGA versus AGA |
| Bacchetta et al. [48] | France | Single-center prospective cohort study Determination of GFR measured by inulin clearance at mean age of 7.6 ± 1.3 years in preterm SGA (n = 23), AGA (n = 11), and preterm with EUGR (n = 16) |
Lower GFR in SGA versus AGA and in EUGR versus AGA, no difference in urine albumin/creatinine ratio or in blood pressure among the groups |
RGC: radial glomerular count, RF: renal failure, GA: gestational age, SGA: small for GA, AGA: appropriate for GA, GFR: glomerular filtration rate, EUGR: extrauterine growth retardation.