Preterm birth occurs in 10% of all live births and creates challenges to neonatal life, which persist into adulthood. Significant previous work has been undertaken to characterize and understand the respiratory and cardiovascular sequelae of preterm birth, which are present in adulthood, i.e., "late" outcomes. However, many gaps in knowledge are still present and there are several challenges that will make filling these gaps difficult. In this perspective we discuss the obstacles of studying adults born preterm including: 1) need for invasive (direct) measures of physiologic function; 2) need for multi-state, multi-national and diverse cohorts; 3) lack of socialized medicine in the United States; 4) need for detailed and better organized birth records; and 5) transfer of neonatal and pediatric knowledge to adult care physicians. We conclude with a discussion on the "future" of studying preterm birth in regards to what may happen to these individuals as they approach adulthood, middle and older age and how the improvements in peri- and post-natal care may be changing the phenotypes observed in adults born preterm on or after the year 2000.
Keyphrases