作者
F. Crispi,Mérida Rodríguez‐López,Gabriel Bernardino,Bart Bijnens,Susanna Prat‐González,Carolina Pajuelo,Rosario J. Perea,M T Caralt,Giulia Casu,Kilian Vellvé,Francesca Crovetto,Felip Burgos,Mathieu De Craene,Constantine Butakoff,Miguel Ángel González Ballester,Isabel Blanco,Marta Sitges,Bart Bijnens,E. Gratacós
摘要
Importance
Being born small for gestational age (SGA), approximately 10% of all births, is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality in adulthood, but mechanistic pathways are unclear. Cardiac remodeling and dysfunction occur in fetuses SGA and children born SGA, but it is uncertain whether and how these changes persist into adulthood. Objective
To evaluate baseline cardiac function and structure and exercise capacity in young adults born SGA. Design, Setting, and Participants
This cohort study conducted from January 2015 to January 2018 assessed a perinatal cohort born at a tertiary university hospital in Spain between 1975 and 1995. Participants included 158 randomly selected young adults aged 20 to 40 years born SGA (birth weight below the 10th centile) or with intrauterine growth within standard reference ranges (controls). Participants provided their medical history, filled out questionnaires regarding smoking and physical activity habits, and underwent incremental cardiopulmonary exercise stress testing, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and a physical examination, with blood pressure, glucose level, and lipid profile data collected. Exposure
Being born SGA. Main Outcomes and Measures
Cardiac structure and function assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, including biventricular end-diastolic shape analysis. Exercise capacity assessed by incremental exercise stress testing. Results
This cohort study included 81 adults born SGA (median age at study, 34.4 years [IQR, 30.8-36.7 years]; 43 women [53%]) and 77 control participants (median age at study, 33.7 years [interquartile range (IQR), 31.0-37.1 years]; 33 women [43%]). All participants were of White race/ethnicity and underwent imaging, whereas 127 participants (80% of the cohort; 66 control participants and 61 adults born SGA) completed the exercise test. Cardiac shape analysis showed minor changes at rest in right ventricular geometry (DeLong testz, 2.2098;P = .02) with preserved cardiac function in individuals born SGA. However, compared with controls, adults born SGA had lower exercise capacity, with decreased maximal workload (mean [SD], 180 [62] W vs 214 [60] W;P = .006) and oxygen consumption (median, 26.0 mL/min/kg [IQR, 21.5-33.5 mL/min/kg vs 29.5 mL/min/kg [IQR, 24.0-36.0 mL/min/kg];P = .02). Exercise capacity was significantly correlated with left ventricular mass (ρ = 0.7934;P < .001). Conclusions and Relevance
This cohort of young adults born SGA had markedly reduced exercise capacity. These results support further research to clarify the causes of impaired exercise capacity and the potential association with increased cardiovascular mortality among adults born SGA.