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Abilities of children who were small-for-gestational-age babies
Insights
Intrauterine growth restriction impacting head development before 26 weeks gestation is linked to lower cognitive and motor abilities in children. This study highlights the long-term effects of slow fetal growth on child development.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Developmental Psychology
- Neonatology
Background:
- Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) affects fetal development.
- Serial ultrasonic cephalometry monitors fetal growth.
- Long-term developmental outcomes of IUGR require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the long-term developmental abilities of small-for-gestation-age (SGA) children.
- To investigate the impact of the timing of slowed head growth during gestation on later development.
- To compare developmental outcomes between SGA children and matched controls.
Main Methods:
- Follow-up study of 51 small-for-gestation-age babies at a mean age of 5.1 years.
- Intrauterine growth monitored by serial ultrasonic cephalometry.
- Developmental abilities assessed using McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, compared to controls.
Main Results:
- Children with head growth slowing before 26 weeks gestation had significantly lower general cognitive index scores than controls.
- Perceptual-performance and Motor scale scores were also lower in this group.
- No significant differences in developmental scores were found based on birth-weight percentiles.
Conclusions:
- Prolonged slow intrauterine head growth, particularly before 26 weeks gestation, negatively impacts later cognitive, perceptual, and motor abilities.
- The timing of slowed intrauterine growth is a critical factor in developmental outcomes.
- Birth weight percentile alone does not fully predict these developmental deficits.
Abstract:
A follow-up study of 51 small-for-gestation-age babies, whose intrauterine growth was monitored by serial ultrasonic cephalometry, was carried out at a mean age of 5.1 years. The developmental abilities of the children were assessed by using the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities and the results were compared with those of a group of matched control subjects. Children whose head growth began to slow before 26 weeks' gestation had significantly lower scores for the general cognitive index than control children. This did not occur in children whose head growth began to slow later in gestation. Scores for Perceptual-performance and Motor scales in the McCarthy scales were also lower for the children whose head growth slowed before 26 weeks' gestation, when compared with those of control children. There were no differences in the developmental scores of the children when they were divided into groups according to birth-weight percentiles. We conclude that prolonged slow growth in utero affects a child's later development and abilities, in particular, perceptual performance and motor ability.