TY - JOUR T1 - Genetic background of high blood pressure is associated with reduced mortality in premature neonates JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition JO - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed SP - 184 LP - 189 DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2019-317131 VL - 105 IS - 2 AU - Wolfgang Göpel AU - Mirja Müller AU - Heike Rabe AU - Johannes Borgmann AU - Tanja K Rausch AU - Kirstin Faust AU - Angela Kribs AU - Jörg Dötsch AU - David Ellinghaus AU - Christoph Härtel AU - Claudia Roll AU - Miklos Szabo AU - Peter Nürnberg AU - Andre Franke AU - Inke R König AU - Mark A Turner AU - Egbert Herting Y1 - 2020/03/01 UR - http://fn.bmj.com/content/105/2/184.abstract N2 - Objective The aim of our study was to determine if a genetic background of high blood pressure is a survival factor in preterm infants.Design Prospective cohort study.Setting Patients were enrolled in 53 neonatal intensive care units.Patients Preterm infants with a birth weight below 1500 g.Exposures Genetic score blood pressure estimates were calculated based on adult data. We compared infants with high genetic blood pressure estimates (>75th percentile of the genetic score) to infants with low genetic blood pressure estimates (<25th percentile of the genetic score).Main outcome measures Lowest blood pressure on the first day of life and mortality.Results 5580 preterm infants with a mean gestational age of 28.1±2.2 weeks and a mean birth weight of 1022±299 g were genotyped and analysed. Infants with low genetic blood pressure estimates had significantly lower blood pressure if compared with infants with high genetic blood pressure estimates (27.3±6.2vs 27.9±6.4, p=0.009, t-test). Other risk factors for low blood pressure included low gestational age (−1.26 mm Hg/week) and mechanical ventilation (−2.24 mm Hg, p<0.001 for both variables, linear regression analysis). Mortality was significantly reduced in infants with high genetic blood pressure estimates (28-day mortality: 21/1395, 1.5% vs 44/1395, 3.2%, p=0.005, Fisher’s exact test). This survival advantage was independent of treatment with catecholamines.Conclusions Our study provides first evidence that a genetic background of high blood pressure may be beneficial with regard to survival of preterm infants. ER -