Abdominal aortic intima-media thickness in preschool children born preterm.

Recently aortic intima-media thickness (IMT) has been used as an earlier marker of preclinical atherosclerosis in high-risk children, such as those with type 1 diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia. Children who were born preterm have an early elevation in insulin resistance, which may be a risk factor for metabolic syndrome in adulthood. However, there is no optimal marker of subsequent cardiovascular disease for children born preterm. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of preterm birth on aortic IMT during the preschool period. Mean aortic IMT was measured by ultrasound in 26 subjects born preterm (gestational age <37 weeks [preterm group]) and 11 control subjects born at term (term group). The mean aortic IMT of the preterm group was significantly thicker than that of the term group (preterm group: median 577 μm, interquartile range (524-599) versus term group: 517 μm (442-544); p = 0.003). Mean aortic IMT may be one of the earlier markers of subclinical vasculopathy in preschool children who were born preterm.