This longitudinal study reported the mid- and long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of 166 premature infants born with an extremely low birth weight (<1,000 g), all small for gestational age (<10th percentile birth weight for gestational age). Nine girls were lost to follow-up before 3 years of age, and 6 children were excluded a posteriori because of specific conditions diagnosed in the 1st year of life (severe abnormalities in 5). Of the remaining 151 children, 2% had cerebral palsy, 15% had lesser motor disturbances (reduced to 2% after psychomotor training), 8% had early severe developmental delays, and added mild and moderate delays and increasing cognitive gaps amounted to 28% in the 14th year. Visual deficits increased with age up to 63% of the older children. Seven children had deafness and 13 had hearing losses after otitis media. Language delays were observed at some stage in 31% of cases, as well as behavioral disturbances in 42% (severe problems in 12%). At last evaluation, 34% of the children were normal (12% of the older ones), 51% had minor deficiencies, 18% had moderate and 3% had major disabilities. Children entered the first grade in the 7th year in only 84% of cases, which dropped to 63% at proper level in the second grade; 47% entered high school at the proper age, 7/15 obtained the 'baccalauréat' in the 19th/20th year. The school performance was heavily dependent on the socioeconomic and cultural level of the family.
Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel