Health, Physical Growth, and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Preterm Infants of Women With Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy.

This was a secondary analysis of a parent trial, not a randomized comparison of maternal hypertensive disorders, so it cannot show that hypertensive disorders caused the outcomes. Only preterm infants admitted to NICUs were included; infants who died or did not require NICU admission were not represented. Attrition and missing hypertensive disorder data reduced the analysed sample from 240 parent-study dyads to 221, with 161 infants at 2 months and 155 at 12 months. The hypertensive disorder group was smaller than the control group (80 versus 141), and the authors say small and unequal sample sizes require cautious interpretation. The sample was mostly Black women, and race was associated with some outcomes, so results may not generalise to other populations. Infants hospitalized longer than 1 month past term were withdrawn from the sample, which may further limit generalisability.

The authors report no conflict of interest or relevant financial relationships.

Do not conclude that maternal hypertensive disorders cause poorer infant health, growth, or development. The only significant difference between the hypertensive disorder and control groups was higher small-for-gestational-age status (31.7% versus 10.6%), and the study was a secondary analysis of NICU preterm infants, not a randomized test of hypertensive disorders.