Pulmonary Hypertension in Extremely premature born infants: prevalence, risk factors and survival

In the Netherlands, approximately 12,000 children are born prematurely every year. These preterm infants did not had the chance to fully develop. Therefore, premature birth is often associated with poorer survival. This is often due to the disorders bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and pulmonary hypertension (PH). BPD involves immature lungs with lung damage due to mechanical ventilation and oxygen administration. PH is characterized by increased pressure in the pulmonary vascular bed. If PH persists, it can lead to overload of the heart, leading to heart failure and eventual death. However, there is currently little knowledge about the condition PH in these preterm infants. With this dissertation we aim to gain more knowledge about PH. We show that PH is a common and indeed a dangerous condition in preterm infants. That PH in the first week of life can have several causes, each with their own risks and survival rate. That children with PH have a greatly increased risk of also getting BPD. And that in the early stages of life before the disease is even clinically visible, there are already indications in the blood that children have a higher risk of getting both BPD and PH. With this knowledge, a contribution can be made to improved care for the premature infants with PH, which hopefully contributes to an improved quality of life and survival