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Updated: Mar 1, 2026
Preterm EEG: A Multimodal Neurophysiological Protocol
Published on: February 18, 2012
Attention and Regional Gray Matter Development in Very Preterm Children at Age 12 Years
Rachel E Lean1, Tracy R Melzer2, Samudragupta Bora3
11Department of Psychiatry,Washington University School of Medicine,St. Louis,Missouri.
Insights
Children born very preterm (VPT) show poorer sustained and executive attention compared to full-term peers. This is linked to differences in brain gray matter development, particularly in areas like the parietal and temporal cortices.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Very preterm (VPT) birth is associated with increased risk for neurodevelopmental challenges.
- Attentional deficits are common in VPT children, impacting academic and social functioning.
- Understanding the neural correlates of these deficits is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between regional gray matter development and attention abilities in VPT children.
- To compare attention performance and brain structure between VPT and full-term (FT) children at age 12 years.
- To identify specific brain regions associated with attentional deficits in VPT individuals.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 110 VPT (≤32 weeks gestation) and 113 FT children were assessed at corrected age 12 years.
- Attention was evaluated using the Test of Everyday Attention-Children.
- Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and voxel-based morphometry were used to analyze regional gray matter differences.
Main Results:
- VPT children demonstrated poorer sustained and executive attention compared to FT children.
- VPT children exhibited reduced gray matter in parietal, temporal, prefrontal cortices, thalami, and hippocampus, with increased gray matter in occipital and anterior cingulate cortices.
- Specific attention deficits were associated with gray matter alterations in the anterior cingulate, superior temporal, occipital, posterior cingulate, and temporal cortices.
Conclusions:
- Regional gray matter development disturbances contribute to attentional impairments in VPT children.
- These findings highlight the importance of monitoring neurodevelopmental trajectories in VPT populations.
- Structural MRI findings provide insights into the neural basis of attention deficits in very preterm individuals.
Objectives:
This study examines the selective, sustained, and executive attention abilities of very preterm (VPT) born children in relation to concurrent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of regional gray matter development at age 12 years.
Methods:
A regional cohort of 110 VPT (≤32 weeks gestation) and 113 full term (FT) born children were assessed at corrected age 12 years on the Test of Everyday Attention-Children. They also had a structural MRI scan that was subsequently analyzed using voxel-based morphometry to quantify regional between-group differences in cerebral gray matter development, which were then related to attention measures using multivariate methods.
Results:
VPT children obtained similar selective (p=.85), but poorer sustained (p=.02) and executive attention (p=.01) scores than FT children. VPT children were also characterized by reduced gray matter in the bilateral parietal, temporal, prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, bilateral thalami, and left hippocampus; and increased gray matter in the occipital and anterior cingulate cortices (family-wise error-corrected p<.05). Poorer sustained auditory attention was associated with increased gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex (p=.04). Poor executive shifting attention was associated with reduced gray matter in the right superior temporal cortex (p=.04) and bilateral thalami (p=.05). Poorer executive divided attention was associated with reduced gray matter in the occipital (p=.001), posterior cingulate (p=.02), and left temporal (p=.01) cortices; and increased gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex (p=.001).
Conclusions:
Disturbances in regional gray matter development appear to contribute, at least in part, to the poorer attentional performance of VPT children at school age. (JINS, 2017, 23, 539-550).
