Retinal microvascular changes in low-birth-weight babies have a link to future health
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Yogavijayan Kandasamy
,
Roger Smith
Abstract
Background:In utero insults that result in low-birth-weight (LBW) infants are now recognized risk factors for the development of vascular-related diseases in adulthood. Microcirculatory pathologies are believed to form a mechanistic link between fetal insult and the manifestation of illness in adulthood.
Objectives: The challenge has been to investigate microcirculatory changes in vivo. The objective of this review is to determine whether LBW infants and individuals undergo abnormal microvascular changes and, if so, whether these changes can be objectively identified and measured by investigating retinal vessels.
Methods: An online publication search was carried out using the following keywords to identify and review relevant articles: retinal microvasculature, retinal vessels, small for gestation age, growth restriction, and intrauterine growth restriction. Articles published from 1980 to 2011 were considered.
Conclusions: The ability of retinal imaging technology to assess and measure retinal microvasculature makes it a valuable assessment tool. The current tool is, however, unsuitable for non-invasive assessment in infants and young children. Once this hurdle has been overcome, a longitudinal study of LBW individuals from infancy to adulthood, with regular retinal microvascular assessments, would help prove the mechanistic link between LBW and cardiovascular disease in adulthood.
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- Review Article
- Retinal microvascular changes in low-birth-weight babies have a link to future health
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- Fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG): moving forward in the establishment of clinical reference data by advanced biomagnetic instrumentation and analysis
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- Assessment of long-axis ventricular function in the fetal heart with a tissue-tracking algorithm
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- Opinion Paper
- Cross-over training in neonatology and obstetrics
- Congress Calender
- Congress Calendar
- Masthead
- Masthead
Articles in the same Issue
- Review Article
- Retinal microvascular changes in low-birth-weight babies have a link to future health
- Original Articles – Obstetrics
- Chromosomal mosaicisms in prenatal diagnosis: correlation with first trimester screening and clinical outcome
- Perinatal impact of the use of metformin and glyburide for the treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus
- Incidence and causes of maternal thrombocytopenia in triplet gestation
- Maternal and paternal age and twinning in the United States, 2004–2008
- Correlates of the trend of cesarean section rates in twin pregnancies
- Prospective risk of stillbirth: monochorionic diamniotic twins vs. dichorionic twins
- Association between increased yolk sac diameter and abnormal karyotypes
- No “masculinization” effect of a male on birth weight of its female co-twin
- Comparison of risk calculation approaches in a screening programme for Down syndrome
- Individual decisions in placenta increta and percreta: a case series
- Original Articles – Fetus
- Fetal sex and perinatal outcomes
- Fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG): moving forward in the establishment of clinical reference data by advanced biomagnetic instrumentation and analysis
- Maternal and fetal cord blood lipids in intrauterine growth restriction
- Assessment of long-axis ventricular function in the fetal heart with a tissue-tracking algorithm
- Original Articles – Newborn
- A cluster of methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus colonization in a nursery
- Intermittent flushing improves cannula patency compared to continuous infusion for peripherally inserted venous catheters in newborns: results from a prospective observational study
- Opinion Paper
- Cross-over training in neonatology and obstetrics
- Congress Calender
- Congress Calendar
- Masthead
- Masthead
