Epidemiological observations further confirm that former preterm born infants are indeed at increased risk to develop cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease during adulthood [Brenner et al., Carmody et al., Vieux et al., Zandi-Nejad et al.]. The concept that fetal and perinatal conditions affect normal cardiovascular and renal ontogeny is in itself not new. Epidemiological studies showed that there is an association between low birth weight and vascular dysfunction in later life, suggesting that vascular impairment in early life is a harbinger of a poorer long-term prognosis [Sutherland et al., Bacchetta et al., Keijzer-Veen et al., Puddu et al.]. Intra-uterine growth retardation and children small for gestational age can be regarded as a failure of a fetus to reach the genetic potential of growth due to nutritional deprivation, the so-called Barker hypothesis [Barker et al.]. In adult life, this early growth retardation is associated with impaired renal and (micro)vascular function, hypertension, glucose intolerance and cardiovascular disease [Sutherland et al., Abitbol et al., Faa et al., Zaffanello et al., Carmody et al., Keijzer-Veen et al.].