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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Neurobehavioural functioning in neonatal intensive care unit graduates in late childhood and early adolescence
W John Curtis1, Linda L Lindeke, Michael K Georgieff
1Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA.
Insights
Children with neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stays showed some spatial memory and executive functioning differences. However, deficits were less pronounced than previously observed, suggesting potential neural plasticity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatric Medicine
Background:
- Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization can impact long-term cognitive development.
- Previous assessments indicated significant neurodevelopmental deficits in NICU graduates.
- Understanding cognitive outcomes is crucial for early intervention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine memory and executive functioning in children with a history of NICU hospitalization.
- To compare cognitive performance between NICU children and healthy, full-term controls.
- To identify predictors of cognitive outcomes in NICU graduates.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB) for assessment.
- Assessed 32 children with NICU history and 25 full-term controls.
- Employed correlational analyses and multiple regression models.
Main Results:
- NICU children exhibited shorter spatial memory span and more forgetting errors.
- Medical complications correlated negatively with spatial memory, planning, and recognition memory.
- Gestational age and neurobiological risk were key predictors of specific cognitive functions.
Conclusions:
- NICU children demonstrated specific, but fewer, cognitive deficits than previously reported.
- Findings suggest potential for neural plasticity to mitigate some adverse effects of neonatal complications.
- Further research is needed to differentiate plasticity from normal maturation effects.
Abstract:
The current study examined memory and executive functioning in a sample of children who were hospital ized in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after birth. Thirty-two children born prematurely and/or with medical complications (NICU children) and 25 control children born at term were assessed with the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB), a multi-dimensional computer-based measure of memory and executive functioning. Comparisons between the NICU and control groups on the CANTAB subscales indicated that the NICU children had a shorter spatial memory span length and committed more forgetting errors on a spatial working memory task. Correlational analyses demonstrated that the number and extent of medical complications at birth was negatively associated with spatial memory span, planning and spatial recognition memory. Multiple regression models suggested that gestational age was of primary importance in predicting spatial memory span, while neurobiological risk was primary in the prediction of spatial working memory errors. Overall, the current results showed fewer deficits in this group of children than were found in a previous neuropsychological assessment of this cohort. The implications of this finding for discerning the effects of neural plasticity over and above normal brain maturational processes are discussed.
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