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Published on: June 20, 2020
Functioning of 7-year-old children born at 32 to 35 weeks' gestational age
Renata Cserjesi1, Koenraad N J A Van Braeckel, Phillipa R Butcher
1Department of Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2, 9712 TS Groningen, Netherlands. rcserjesi@hotmail.com
Insights
Children born moderately preterm show lower intelligence and executive functioning at age 7. While boys may catch up, girls born moderately preterm appear to lag in cognitive development compared to full-term peers.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Moderately preterm birth (32-35 weeks' gestation) affects neurodevelopmental outcomes.
- Early school-age neuropsychological functioning in preterm children requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- Compare neuropsychological functions between moderately preterm and full-term children at age 7.
- Identify gender-specific differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Prospective community-based cohort study.
- Included 248 moderately preterm and 130 full-term children.
- Assessed IQ, memory, attention, visual perception, motor skills, and executive functioning.
Main Results:
- Moderately preterm children had lower IQ, visuospatial reasoning, attention, and executive functioning.
- No differences observed in verbal IQ, verbal memory, or motor skills.
- Preterm girls showed greater deficits than preterm boys when using gender-specific norms.
Conclusions:
- Moderately preterm birth is linked to poorer cognitive and executive functions at age 7.
- Motor skills and verbal memory appear unaffected.
- Preterm boys may catch up, while preterm girls exhibit persistent lags in specific neuropsychological functions.
Objective:
To compare neuropsychological functions in moderately preterm (32-35 weeks' gestation) and full-term children at the age of 7 years and identify gender differences.
Methods:
Community-based prospective cohort study of 248 moderately preterm children (138 boys) and 130 full-term children (58 boys). Neuropsychological tests included IQ, memory, attention, visual perception, motor skills, visuomotor skills, and parental report of executive functioning.
Results:
The moderately preterm group performed significantly worse on total and performance IQ, visuospatial reasoning, attention control, inhibition, and executive functioning. No differences were found in verbal IQ, verbal memory, and visuomotor and motor skills. Preterm children were at higher risk for scores <10th percentile on intelligence, visuospatial reasoning (relative risk ratio both: 1.69 [95% confidence interval: 1.29-2.28]), and executive functioning problems (relative risk: 1.94 [95% confidence interval: 1.51-2.57]). Using gender-specific norms, preterm boys performed significantly worse than full-term boys on visuospatial reasoning (P < .01); preterm girls performed significantly worse than full-term girls on visuospatial reasoning, intelligence, attention, and executive functioning (P < .05).
Conclusions:
Moderately preterm birth is associated with lower intelligence and poorer neuropsychological functioning at early school age. No differences in motor skills and verbal memory were found. Using gender-specific norms, our data suggest that moderately preterm boys catch up, whereas moderately preterm girls lag behind their peers on various neuropsychological functions by the age of 7 years.
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