A Population Study

Narrowing of Sex Differences in Infant Mortality in Massachusetts

“…The greater use of antenatal steroids may also be a significant contributor to the decline since clinical studies have found that use of antenatal steroids were associated with decreased neonatal mortality from a number of prematurity-related conditions. 3,9,24 We chose to analyze differences in mortality by gestational age category as comparison by birthweight might introduce a bias. Since male infants have a higher birthweight at each gestational age, comparison of male and female infants of the same birthweight would tend to exaggerate any male disadvantage since males would be of a lower gestational age.…”

“…7 More recently, increased use of antenatal steroids and the availability of surfactant therapy are considered important advances contributing to improved neonatal outcome presumably by decreasing the incidence and severity of conditions associated with preterm births such as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). [8][9][10][11][12][13] Since males are at higher risk of prematurity and prematurity-related conditions such as RDS, 14,15 it is possible that these advances in therapy could differentially benefit male infants, and as a result, alter the sex difference in mortality.…”

Ventilatory control in infants, children, and adults with bronchopulmonary dysplasia

“…The major advantages of these cohorts are the availability of medical records in order to retrospectively analyze the relationship between perinatal events and outcomes and the ability to follow the cohort participants as they age. Studies using this cohort have already been immensely informative (Palta et al 1990; Palta et al 1991; Palta et al 1994; Weinstein et al 1994; Palta et al 1996; Evans et al 1998; Palta et al 1998; Palta et al 1998; Palta et al 2000; Palta et al 2001; Hagen et al 2006; Palta et al 2007). We expect that the study of these participants will aid in our understanding of ventilatory control in humans with BPD and hope to see the support of similar cohorts in the future.…”

Increased aortic stiffness and elevated blood pressure in response to exercise in adult survivors of prematurity

“…Preterm subjects (n = 10) were recruited from the Newborn Lung Project, a longitudinal cohort at the University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI), that registered premature patients admitted to nine neonatal intensive care units between 1989 (presurfactant era) and 1991 (surfactant era). This population has been described extensively (Evans, Palta, Sadek, Weinstein, & Peters, 1998;Farrell et al, 2015;Hagen, Palta, Albanese, & Sadek-Badawi, 2006;Palta et al, 1990Palta et al, , 1996Palta et al, , 2001Palta, Gabbert, Weinstein, & Peters, 1991;Palta, Sadek, Barnet, et al, 1998;Palta, Sadek, Lim, Evans, & McGuinness, 1998;Palta, Sadek-Badawi, Evans, Weinstein, & McGuinnes, 2000;Palta, Sadek-Badawi, Madden, & Green, 2007;Palta et al, 1994;Peppard et al, 2013;Weinstein, Peters, Sadek, & Palta, 1994;Young et al, 1997Young et al, , 2009, but the hypothesis was developed a priori to data analysis. Patients recruited to this cohort were low birth weight (<1,500 g) and had a gestational age less than 36 weeks (mean, 28 ± 2 weeks).…”