Histopathological placental inflammation provides objective evidence of intrauterine inflammatory exposure in preterm birth, but placental histopathology is not immediately available after delivery. We aimed to determine whether placental inflammatory pathology is associated with cord blood and postnatal inflammatory biomarkers in preterm infants. In this prospective cohort study, 87 preterm infants with birth weight < 2500 g were enrolled. Cord blood collected at birth was analyzed for procalci