Normative values of renin and aldosterone in clinically stable preterm neonates

There is a paucity of literature on the normative levels of plasma renin concentration (PRC) and serum aldosterone (SA) in premature neonates. This study aims to provide normative data on PRC and SA levels in preterm neonates in the first 2 weeks after birth and explore associations with maternal, perinatal, or postnatal factors.

Neonates born at 26- to 34-week gestation were recruited from two neonatal intensive care units in Canada and Australia. The direct renin assay PRC and SA were analyzed on day 1 and days 14-21 after birth to compare across categorical variables and to produce normative values.

A total of 262 subjects were enrolled from the Canadian (29%) and Australian (71%) sites. The mean gestational age was 30 weeks, with a mean birth weight of 1457 g. The normative values of PRC and SA for neonates born between 26 + 0 and 29 + 6 weeks and 30 + 0 and 34 + 0 weeks of gestation were produced for day 1 and day 14-21 after birth. Both PRC and SA increased from day 1 to day 14-21. The more premature neonates reached a higher PRC on days 14-21 after birth but exhibited lower SA levels on day 1 after birth. When comparing gender, birth weight, and maternal risk factor categories, no statistical differences in PRC or SA were found. A small but significant decrease in PRC, but not SA, was noted for neonates with placental pathology.

This study produced normative values of PRA and SA in clinically stable preterm neonates that can be referenced for use in clinical practice. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.