Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Neurodevelopmental outcome at 12 and 18 months in late preterm infants
Domenico M Romeo1, Alessandra Di Stefano, Maria Conversano
1Division of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, Department of Paediatrics, University of Catania, Italy.
Insights
Correctly assessing age is crucial for understanding late-preterm infant development. When corrected for prematurity, late-preterm infants show similar neurodevelopmental outcomes to term-born infants at 12 and 18 months.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal development
- Pediatric neurology
- Developmental pediatrics
Background:
- Late-preterm infants (33-36 weeks gestation) comprise 70% of preterm births.
- These infants face higher risks of mortality and morbidity compared to term infants.
- Neurodevelopmental outcomes in low-risk late-preterm infants require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate neurodevelopmental outcomes in low-risk late-preterm infants at 12 and 18 months corrected age.
- To compare outcomes between corrected and uncorrected ages against term-born infants.
- To analyze the potential influence of gender on neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Sixty-one healthy late-preterm infants and 60 low-risk term-born infants were assessed.
- The Bayley Scales of Infant Development II were used for neurodevelopmental assessment.
- Assessments were conducted at 12 and 18 months corrected age.
Main Results:
- At 12 and 18 months corrected age, late-preterm infants had similar Mental Developmental Index (MDI) scores to term infants.
- Using uncorrected chronological age, late-preterm infants scored significantly lower than term infants at both ages.
- Male late-preterm infants exhibited lower MDI scores than females at both assessment ages, unlike term infants.
Conclusions:
- Correcting for prematurity reveals comparable MDI scores in late-preterm and term-born infants at 12 and 18 months.
- Using uncorrected age identified a subset of late-preterm infants with low MDI scores.
- Findings suggest that uncorrected age assessments may potentially identify infants at risk for later cognitive difficulties.
Background:
Late-preterms represent the 70% of the whole preterm population and are reported to be at higher risk for mortality and morbidity than term infants.
Aims:
To assess neurodevelopmental outcome in low-risk late-preterm infants at 12 and 18 months corrected age, to compare results of corrected and uncorrected age to those of term-born infants, to analyse the possible influence of gender on outcome.
Methods:
Sixty-one healthy infants born between 33 and 36 weeks gestational age without major brain lesions were assessed at 12 and 18 months corrected age using the Bayley II scale. A control group of 60 low-risk term born infants underwent the same assessment.
Results:
At 12 and 18 months corrected age late preterms showed a mean mental developmental index (MDI) similar to term infants. Comparing the results of the uncorrected age with term infants, the scores were significantly lower at both 12 and 18 months. No gender differences were observed in term-born infants, while male late-preterm infants showed lower MDI than peer females at both ages.
Conclusions:
When correcting age for prematurity late-preterms have similar MDI scores to those obtained in term-born infants at 12 and 18 months. In contrast, when using chronological age there is a number of infants with low MDI. As cognitive abnormalities are reported at school age in late preterm infants, our findings raise the question on whether the results obtained using scores uncorrected for age may early identify the infants who will show cognitive difficulties at school age.
