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Relationships between cerebral blood flow and cognition in young adults born very preterm and at term

Chandelle L Piazza1,2, Vanessa Schmithorst3, Claire E Kelly1,4

  • 1School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.

Scientific Reports
|April 21, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Young adults born very preterm (VP) show altered cerebral blood flow (CBF) in subcortical regions. These differences in CBF are linked to cognitive outcomes, potentially reflecting cerebral dysmaturation in VP individuals.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Biology
  • Medical Imaging

Background:

  • Persistent cognitive challenges affect young adults born very preterm (VP; <32 weeks' gestation).
  • Altered cerebral blood flow (CBF) is a potential mechanism underlying these cognitive deficits.
  • Understanding the relationship between CBF and cognition in VP individuals is crucial for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate differences in CBF between adults born VP and term-born controls.
  • To explore the associations between CBF and cognitive outcomes (e.g., memory, executive function, IQ) in both groups.
  • To elucidate the role of cerebral dysmaturation in VP individuals.

Main Methods:

  • Arterial Spin Labelling-MRI was used to measure CBF in 72 VP-born and 16 term-born adults at 20 years of age.
  • Neuropsychological assessments evaluated cognitive functions including memory, executive functioning, and IQ.
  • Voxel-wise general linear models analyzed CBF differences and their correlations with cognitive performance.

Main Results:

  • Adults born VP exhibited reduced CBF in subcortical regions compared to term-born controls.
  • CBF was positively associated with verbal delayed memory and negatively with executive functioning across both groups.
  • Term-born adults showed stronger negative associations between CBF and IQ, receptive language, and executive functioning compared to VP adults.

Conclusions:

  • Very preterm birth is associated with lower subcortical CBF in young adulthood.
  • Cortical CBF-cognition relationships differ significantly between VP and term-born groups, with opposing directions observed.
  • These findings suggest that cerebral dysmaturation may underlie the observed disparities in CBF and cognitive outcomes in VP individuals.

Keywords:
ASL-MRICerebral blood flowCognitionVery preterm

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