To determine whether early term delivery (at 37^0/7-38^6/7 weeks of gestation) is associated with long-term pediatric cardiovascular morbidity of the offspring.

A population-based cohort analysis was performed including all term deliveries occurring between 1991 and 2014 at a single tertiary medical center. Gestational age at delivery was subdivided into early term (37^0/7-38^6/7), full term (39^0/7-40^6/7), late term (41^0/7-41^6/7) and post term (≥42^0/7) delivery. Hospitalizations of children up to the age of 18 years involving cardiovascular morbidity were evaluated, including structural valvular disease, hypertension, arrhythmias, rheumatic fever, ischemic heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, perimyoendocarditis, congestive heart failure, and others. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to compare cumulative hospitalization incidence between groups. A multivariable Weibull parametric model was used to control for confounders.

During the study period, 223 242 term singleton deliveries met the inclusion criteria. Of them, 24% (n = 53 501) occurred at early term. Hospitalizations involving cardiovascular morbidity were significantly more common in children delivered at early term (0.7%) as compared with those born at full (0.6%), late (0.6%), or post term (0.5%; P = .01). The survival curve demonstrated a significantly higher cumulative incidence of cardiovascular-related hospitalizations in the early term group (log-rank P < .001). In the Weibull model, early term delivery was found to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular-related hospitalization as compared with full term delivery (adjusted HR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.01-1.32; P = .02).

Early term delivery is independently associated with pediatric cardiovascular morbidity of the offspring as compared with offspring born at full term.