LAUSR

This edition of Neonatology reports the results of a study of children born prior to 30 weeks of gestational age (GA) who were admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit of a Swedish tertiary hospital over a 16-year period [1]. When confronted with a lower prevalence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), improved survival, and a lower risk of cerebral palsy (CP) by age 2 years in children exposed to maternal preeclampsia (PE) than among their unexposed peers who were also born very preterm (VPT), the authors speculated among several possibilities about a so-called protective effect of PE on perinatal brain damage. But, is PE truly protective? Four questions come to mind that can help readers make their own decisions about this peculiar possibility.