Hydrocortisone administration in preterm infants is not associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in childhood

BACKGROUND: To assess whether administering hydrocortisone in the perinatal period is associated with subsequent adverse cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: The children/adolescents enrolled in the PREMILOC trial underwent resting blood pressure (BP) measurement, tonometry evaluation (pulse wave velocity (PWV), aortic systolic BP), continuous BP and ECG measurements (supine and standing), and ambulatory BP monitoring. Heart rate variability (HRV) indices, baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), and orthostatic systolic BP (SBP) response were calculated. RESULTS: ]; age at assessment: 11.7 years [10.5; 12.7]; z-score of body mass index: 0.23 [-0.65; 1.27]; 27 girls) who received hydrocortisone (n = 28) or placebo (n = 24) were enrolled. The PWV was not different (hydrocortisone: 4.84 m/s [4.40; 5.48] vs. placebo: 5.00 m/s [4.48; 5.34], p = 0.969), and similar results were observed for HRV and BP measurements. Overweight/obese children (n = 17) vs. other children (n = 35) were characterized by higher office SBP, lower supine descending BRS, and higher orthostatic SBP response. CONCLUSION: Early hydrocortisone administration after extremely preterm birth in a randomized trial is not associated with detrimental cardiovascular indices in children/adolescents, while overweight/obesity is already associated with cardiovascular morbidity. The study has been registered, ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT05451264: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05451264?cond=NCT05451264&rank=1 . IMPACT: A meta-analysis on the effects of early postnatal administration of corticosteroids concluded that the hypertensive risk was increased in infants, but that long-term studies should be carried out. We show that early hydrocortisone administration after extremely preterm birth in a randomized trial is not associated with detrimental cardiovascular indices in children/adolescents, at least in one center of the trial Thus, our study suggests that early markers of the risk of hypertension are not altered by hydrocortisone.