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Early diet and general cognitive outcome at adolescence in children born at or below 30 weeks gestation

Elizabeth B Isaacs1, Ruth Morley, Alan Lucas

  • 1Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK. e.isaacs@ich.ucl.ac.uk

The Journal of Pediatrics
|May 19, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Early diet interventions for preterm infants significantly impact long-term cognitive development. High-nutrient diets in infancy improved adolescent IQ scores, particularly verbal comprehension, persisting into later life.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal nutrition
  • Developmental neuroscience
  • Pediatric cognitive development

Background:

  • Preterm birth (< or = 30 weeks gestational age) is associated with potential long-term cognitive deficits.
  • Early life nutrition plays a crucial role in neurodevelopmental outcomes.
  • Previous research indicated cognitive benefits of early diet at age 8 years in preterm infants.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if the cognitive benefits of an early high-nutrient diet in preterm infants persist into adolescence.
  • To assess the long-term effects of early dietary interventions on cognitive function in adolescents born preterm.
  • To investigate the persistence of cognitive differences observed at age 8 years through adolescence.

Main Methods:

  • A subgroup of preterm infants from a randomized controlled trial was reassessed at age 16 years.
  • Cognitive function, specifically IQ scores, was compared between infants who received a high-nutrient diet versus a standard-nutrient diet.
  • IQ scores were analyzed at both 8 and 16 years of age.

Main Results:

  • At age 8 years, the high-nutrient group showed significantly higher Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full-Scale IQ scores.
  • The significant difference in Verbal IQ scores between the groups persisted at age 16 years (P = .02).
  • This persistent effect was primarily driven by differences in the Verbal Comprehension Index.

Conclusions:

  • A short-term early dietary intervention in preterm infants (gestational age 26-34 weeks) has lasting effects on adolescent IQ.
  • A standard-nutrient diet was linked to lower Verbal IQ, mainly due to reduced verbal comprehension.
  • These cognitive differences persisted into adolescence, even after accounting for social factors.
Abstract

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