Association of Plasma Cortisol Levels with Gestational Age and Anthropometric Values at Birth in Preterm Infants

Masako Aoki, Tatsuhiko Urakami (), Nobuhiko Nagano (), Ryoji Aoki and Ichiro Morioka
Additional contact information
Masako Aoki: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan
Tatsuhiko Urakami: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan
Nobuhiko Nagano: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan
Ryoji Aoki: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan
Ichiro Morioka: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8610, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-11

Abstract: There are no study reports to clarify the association between gestational age (GA) or anthropometric values at birth, and plasma cortisol levels in the blood of preterm infants at birth and at one month of age. This hospital-based retrospective cohort study included infants born at <37 weeks’ gestation between 2019 and 2021. First, the association between plasma cortisol level and GA or anthropometric values at birth (birth weight standard deviation score [SDS], birth length SDS, and birth head circumference SDS) was identified by regression and multiple regression analyses. Second, plasma cortisol levels in the umbilical cord at birth and at one month of age were compared between small-for-gestational age (SGA) and non-SGA infants. Sixty-one preterm infants were enrolled (SGA: 24 and non-SGA: 37). Plasma cortisol levels at birth were significantly associated with GA. Plasma cortisol levels at one month of age were associated with GA and birth head circumference SDS. Plasma cortisol levels at birth were significantly higher in SGA than non-SGA ( p = 0.010). GA was an independent determinant of plasma cortisol levels at birth. SGA infants had a high plasma cortisol level at birth; resulting in speculation that a high plasma cortisol level at birth may predict abnormal neurological outcomes.

Keywords: anthropometric value; birth head circumference; birth weight; cortisol; preterm infant; gestational age; small-for-gestational age (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11448/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11448/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11448-:d:912459

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().