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Visual pathways functioning in healthy pre-term adolescents: Sex but not gestational age effect
Matilde Taddei1, Francesca Tinelli2, Flavia Faccio1
1Pediatric Neuroscience Department Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milano, Italy.
Insights
Preterm birth impacts visuo-perceptual skills differently in males and females. While preterm females show reduced visual processing efficiency, they may use compensatory strategies to maintain neuropsychological performance.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Visuo-spatial and visuo-perceptual functioning is well-researched in preterm individuals and shows sex-specific patterns.
- Limited data exists on sex differences and the interaction of sex with preterm birth in visuo-perceptual outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interaction between prematurity and sex in predicting visual pathway functioning.
- To explore the relationship between psychophysiological perceptive processing and neuropsychological performance in preterm adolescents.
Main Methods:
- Studied 30 preterm adolescents with normal cognitive and neurological outcomes and 34 age-matched controls.
- Assessed visual pathways functioning, psychophysical perceptive processing, and neuropsychological performance.
Main Results:
- Preterm females exhibited greater vulnerability in central visuo-cognitive processing but not in neuropsychological accuracy.
- Psychophysical thresholds correlated with neuropsychological accuracy only in preterm females, not males.
- Male vulnerability in cognitive functioning related to prematurity appears negligible in school-aged children with typical outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Preterm birth can lead to sex-specific visuo-perceptual outcomes in adolescents with normal cognitive and neurological status.
- Females born preterm may employ compensatory strategies to achieve good performance despite reduced perceptual efficiency.
- Findings highlight the importance of considering sex in understanding developmental trajectories of visuo-perceptual abilities post-preterm birth.
Background:
Visuo-spatial and visuo-perceptual functioning is widely studied in preterm child and is strongly sex-specific. However, little to no data is available regarding male-female differences in preterm children and adolescents and about the interaction effect between sex and preterm birth.
Methods:
We studied 30 adolescents born preterm with normal cognitive and clinical neurological outcomes and 34 age-matched controls to investigate the interaction between levels of prematurity and sex in predicting the outcome of visual pathways functioning and to explore the relation between psychophysiological perceptive processing and neuropsychological performance.
Results:
In the presence of prematurity, a greater female vulnerability in central visuo-cognitive processing (Form Coherence Task), but not in neuropsychological accuracy (Street Completion Test and Visual Object and Space Perception battery), seems to be more evident. Moreover, the psychophysical threshold is correlated to neuropsychological accuracy only in preterm females and not in males.
Conclusion:
These results support the idea that the male vulnerability in cognitive functioning described in prematurity-related developmental conditions is negligible during school age in children-adolescents with normal cognitive and clinical neurological outcomes.
Impact:
Visuo-perceptual functioning is widely studied in prematurity. However, few data are available about the interaction effect between sex and preterm birth in predicting visuo-perceptual functioning. We evidenced that in females born preterm with preserved cognitive abilities, the efficiency of the psychophysical visuo-perceptual threshold is reduced, but not related to the neuropsychological performance. Females may implement compensation strategies to achieve good performance regardless of the perceptual threshold. The present study addresses an important gap in literature, suggesting possible sex-specific outcomes in visuo-perceptual ability among preterm children and adolescents with normal intelligence and neurological outcomes.
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