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Five-to-Fifteen-Parental Perception of Developmental Profile from Age 5 to 8 Years in Children Born Very Preterm
Eeva Mäkilä1,2, Mikael O Ekblad3, Päivi Rautava4
1Department of Pediatric Neurology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
Insights
Children born very preterm often face developmental challenges. The Five-to-Fifteen (FTF) questionnaire helps identify these risks early, showing persistent difficulties into school age.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Developmental Psychology
- Neonatology
Background:
- Children born very preterm (<32 weeks gestation or ≤1500g) have a higher risk of developmental difficulties.
- Parental perception is a valuable tool for assessing child development.
- Early identification of developmental issues is crucial for timely intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate parental perception of developmental profiles in very preterm children at 5 and 8 years of age.
- To compare the developmental outcomes of very preterm children with full-term controls.
- To examine the correlation of developmental scores between 5 and 8 years in very preterm children.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Five-to-Fifteen (FTF) parental questionnaire to assess developmental domains.
- Included cohorts of very preterm children and full-term controls at 5 and 8 years of age.
- Adjusted analyses for sex and father's educational level.
Main Results:
- Very preterm children showed significantly higher FTF scores (indicating more difficulties) across multiple domains at both 5 and 8 years compared to controls.
- Specific domains with increased difficulties included motor skills, executive function, perception, language, and social skills.
- Moderate-to-strong correlations (r=0.56-0.76) were observed in all domains between 5 and 8 years for very preterm children.
Conclusions:
- Parental perception via the FTF questionnaire can identify very preterm children at risk for persistent developmental difficulties.
- The FTF tool shows potential for early identification of children requiring further developmental assessment and support.
- Developmental challenges identified in very preterm children at age 5 tend to persist through age 8.
Abstract:
Children born very preterm have increased risk of developmental difficulties. We examined the parental perception of developmental profile of children born very preterm at 5 and 8 years by using the parental questionnaire Five-to-Fifteen (FTF) compared to full-term controls. We also studied the correlation between these age points. The study included 168 and 164 children born very preterm (gestational age < 32 weeks and/or birth weight ≤ 1500 g) and 151 and 131 full-term controls. The rate ratios (RR) were adjusted for sex and the father's educational level. At 5 and 8 years, children born very preterm were more likely to have higher scores (more difficulties) compared to controls in motor skills (RR = 2.3, CI 95% = 1.8-3.0 at 5 years and RR = 2.2, CI 95% = 1.7-2.9 at 8 years), executive function (1.7, 1.3-2.2 and 1.5, 1.2-2.0), perception (1.9, 1.4-2.5 and 1.9, 1.5-2.5), language (1.5, 1.1-1.9 and 2.2, 1.7-2.9), and social skills (1.4, 1.1-1.8 and 2.1, 1.6-2.7), and at 8 years in learning (1.9, 1.4-2.6) and memory (1.5, 1.2-2.0). There were moderate-to-strong correlations (r = 0.56-0.76, p < 0.001) in all domains between 5 and 8 years in children born very preterm. Our findings suggest that FTF might help to earlier identify children at the greatest risk of incurring developmental difficulties persisting to school-age.
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