Understanding the Ductus Arteriosus in Term-Born Children: A Longitudinal Study from the Copenhagen Baby Heart Study

PhD defence by Anton Friis Mariager

Assessment Committee

Bo Chawes, , University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Mads Damkjær, University of Southern Denmark
Docent in Pediatric Taisto Sarkola, University of Helsinki

Supervisors

Associate Professor Dorthe Lisbeth Jeppesen
Professor Henning Bundgaard
Professor Kasper Iversen
Raheel Altaf Raja

Department

Department of Clinical Medicine

Place

Building: Herlev Hospital, Room: Lille auditorie, Borgmester Ib Juuls Vej 1, 2730 Herlev, 2730 herlev

Email address to gain access to the thesis: amariager@proton.me.
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Short description of the thesis

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is one of the most common congenital heart defects. Although PDA is well recognized in premature infants, its clinical significance in term-born children remains uncertain. In this thesis, we used data from the Copenhagen Baby Heart Study to investigate ductus arteriosus and PDA in more than 25,000 term-born infants and children.

We established reference data for normal ductal closure, identified maternal and neonatal factors associated with delayed closure, and demonstrated that, although children with small, clinically silent PDAs remained asymptomatic, echocardiography detected subtle cardiac remodelling, whereas neonatal ECG changes were minimal. Together, these studies improve our understanding of PDA in term-born children and provide a foundation for future research.