Intermittent Hypoxemia and Brain Injury Biomarker S100B in Preterm Infants

Background Intermittent hypoxemia (IH) is common in preterm infants and linked to brain injury. S100B is a glial-derived protein that rises early after neural injury and can be measured noninvasively in urine. We evaluated the relationship between IH burden and urinary S100B in preterm infants ≤32 weeks’ gestation. Methods Preterm infants ≤32 weeks’ gestation were prospectively enrolled. Oxygen saturation was continuously monitored, and IH profiles were quantified using validated algorithms. Urine S100B was measured by ultrasensitive immunoassay. Infants with severe intraventricular hemorrhage were excluded. Spearman correlations examined associations between IH metrics and urinary S100B, overall and by gestational age subgroups. Results Twenty-one infants contributed 53 urine samples. Higher urinary S100B correlated with greater IH frequency, percent time in hypoxemia, longer event duration, and lower nadir saturations (all p <0.05). Short events showed the strongest correlations for frequency ( ρ = 0.50) and percent time ( ρ = 0.54), while longer events correlated most strongly with nadir ( ρ = –0.66). Extremely preterm infants demonstrated stronger associations for nadir and duration; very preterm infants only for percent time. S100B increased stepwise across IH burden tertiles. Conclusions Urinary S100B increases with IH burden, with patterns varying by gestational age and event duration. Urinary S100B may provide an early, noninvasive biomarker of IH-related brain injury in preterm infants.