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Functional outcome of very preterm-born and small-for-gestational-age children at school age

Jozien C Tanis1, Meike H van der Ree, Elise Roze

  • 1Division of Neonatology, Beatrix Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. j.c.tanis@umcg.nl

Pediatric Research
|October 6, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Very preterm-born children who were small-for-gestational-age (SGA) showed slight deficits in motor skills and attention compared to controls. These functional outcomes appear linked to preterm birth itself, not SGA status.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal development
  • Pediatric neurology
  • Developmental psychology

Background:

  • Preterm birth and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) are associated with potential developmental challenges.
  • Understanding the specific functional outcomes in these children is crucial for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the school-age functional outcomes of very preterm-born SGA children with matched controls.
  • To determine if developmental differences are primarily due to preterm birth or SGA status.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 28 very preterm SGA children (gestational age <32 weeks) was compared to 28 matched very preterm appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) controls.
  • Assessments included motor skills, IQ, attention, memory, visual perception, executive functioning, and behavior at school age.

Main Results:

  • SGA children exhibited significantly lower Performance IQ, total motor skills, fine motor skills, selective attention, and visual perception compared to controls.
  • No significant differences were found in total IQ or verbal IQ between the groups.

Conclusions:

  • The observed functional differences between very preterm SGA children and controls were small.
  • Findings suggest that the impaired functioning is more attributable to the effects of very preterm birth than to being SGA.
Abstract

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