Multi-domain cognitive impairments at school age in very preterm-born children compared to term-born peers

BMC Pediatrics

Sijmen A. Reijneveld¹  Roy E. Stewart¹  Arend F. Bos²  Elise Roze³ 

[1]Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

[2]Division of Neonatology, Beatrix Children’s Hospital, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

[3]Division of Neonatology, Beatrix Children’s Hospital, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

[4]Divison of Neonatology, Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

关键词: Prematurity;    Long-term outcome;    Co-occurrence;    Cognition;    Neurodevelopmental outcome;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12887-021-02641-z

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPreterm infants are at risk for functional impairments in motor, cognitive, and behavioral development that may persist into childhood. The aim of this study was to determine the co-occurrence of cognitive impairments in multiple cognitive domains at school age in very preterm born children compared to term-born children.MethodsComparative study including 60 very preterm-born children (gestational age ≤ 32 weeks) and 120 term-born controls. At school age, we assessed intelligence with the WISC-III, and visuomotor integration with the NEPSY-II, verbal memory with the AVLT, attention with the TEA-ch, and executive functioning with the BRIEF. We investigated co-occurrence of various abnormal (<5th percentile) and suspect-abnormal (<15th percentile, including both suspect and abnormal) cognitive functions.ResultsAt mean age 8.8 years, 15% of preterm children had abnormal outcomes in multiple cognitive functions (≥2), versus 3% of the controls (odds ratio, OR 4.65, 95%-confidence interval, CI 1.33–16.35). For multiple suspect-abnormal cognitive outcomes, rates were 55% versus 25% (OR 3.02, 95%-CI 1.49–6.12). We found no pattern of co-occurrence of cognitive impairments among preterm children that deviated from term-born controls. However, low performance IQ was more frequently accompanied by additional cognitive impairments in preterms than in controls (OR 5.43, 95%-CI 1.75–16.81).ConclusionsA majority of preterm children showed co-occurrence of impairments in multiple cognitive domains, but with no specific pattern of impairments. The occurrence of multi-domain cognitive impairments is higher in preterms but this seems to reflect a general increase, not one with a pattern specific for preterm-born children.

【 授权许可】

CC BY