Cognitive development in low risk preterms at three to four years of life

Barbara Caravale ^1*, Claudio Tozzi ², Grazia Albino ² and Stefano Vicari ¹

¹ IRCCS, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, Italy
² Dipartimento di Ginecologia, Perinatologia e Puericultura, Università, Italy

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bcaravale{at}libero.it.

Accepted 27 May 2005

Abstract

Background:Significant neurological handicaps and neuropsychological disturbances are more frequent in ex- preterm children as compared to their counterparts born at term. The aim of this prospective study was to establish whether a characteristic neuropsychological profile exists in ex-preterm children who do not exhibit neurodevelopmental deficits on routine clinical examination.

Methods:Thirty intellectually normal children born preterm (30-34 weeks of gestation) without major neurological disabilities and a control group of term children matched for age, gender and parental educational and occupational status were assessed at three to four years of age to obtain a complete neuropsychological profile. Intellectual abilities, language comprehension and expression, perceptual and visual motor functions, working memory, attention and behavioral problems were investigated.

Results:We found that children born preterm, even in the absence of major neurological signs, achieved lower mean scores compared to controls on the Stanford- Binet Intelligence Scale (110.8 vs. 121.3, p= 0.002), Visual Perception test (33.8 vs. 42.7, p< 0.001) and Visual Motor Integration test (42.6 vs. 4.5.8, p= 0.05), Memory for Location test (8.4 vs. 9.5, p= 0.003), Sustained Attention test, (41.6 vs. 51.5, p = 0.009), and the Picture Vocabulary test (33.2 vs. 44.7, p= 0.02).

Conclusions:These findings suggest the possibility that neuropsychological abnormalities can be detected early in childhood in apparently normal ex- preterm children and are consistent with a growing body of evidence suggesting that prematurity may be associated with long term neuropsychological morbidity in childhood and adolescence.

Keywords: LBW, cognitive, neuropsychological assessment, outcome, preterm

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Mangham, L. J., Petrou, S., Doyle, L. W., Draper, E. S., Marlow, N. (2009). The Cost of Preterm Birth Throughout Childhood in England and Wales. Pediatrics 123: e312-e327 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Beauchamp, M. H., Thompson, D. K., Howard, K., Doyle, L. W., Egan, G. F., Inder, T. E., Anderson, P. J. (2008). Preterm infant hippocampal volumes correlate with later working memory deficits. Brain 131: 2986-2994 [Abstract] [Full Text]