Irish-led research has provided new insight into why babies born with Down syndrome experience heart and lung problems.

One in every 600 babies born in Ireland every year has Down syndrome. Heart and lung conditions are common among these babies, so they tend to have a greater need for intensive care and longer hospital admissions than babies without Down syndrome.

The study was led by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences which worked in collaboration with Dublin’s three maternity hospitals, Children’s Health at Crumlin Hospital and Trinity College Dublin, as well as Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the US.

This is the first study of its kind to follow babies with Down syndrome over the first two years of their lives to investigate heart function and increased blood pressure in the blood vessels in their lungs. A total of 70 babies with Down syndrome were included, as well as 60 controls. Of the 70 with Down syndrome, 48 had congenital heart disease.

All of the babies underwent an echocardiogram to assess heart function at six months, one year and two years of age.

The researchers found that the babies with Down syndrome had impaired changes in heart function and blood pressure in the lungs over the first two years of life.

Importantly, there were no differences over the study period in heart function between those babies with Down syndrome who had congenital heart disease compared to those who did not. This is a significant finding and indicates that all babies with Down syndrome should have their heart function and blood pressure in their lungs monitored during childhood.

“Until this point, there has been a dearth of evidence to explain why babies with Down syndrome experience these issues. The results of this study show us that babies with Down syndrome experience changes in the heart function that leads to increased blood pressure in the lungs,” explained Prof Afif EL-Khuffash, clinical professor of paediatrics at RCSI and a consultant neonatologist at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.

It is hoped that these findings will help clinicians to better assess babies born with Down syndrome.

“This study will help clinicians to better understand the mechanisms causing these problems and highlights the importance of monitoring heart function in babies with Down syndrome over time,” commented the study’s first author and neonatology specialist registrar, Dr Aisling Smith.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography and can be viewed here.