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Cognitive development of preterm low birth weight children at 5 to 8 years old
1Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison 53705.
Insights
Children born prematurely or with low birth weight may experience temporary cognitive delays. These developmental delays in preterm children typically resolve by age six, with environmental factors playing a larger role than perinatal ones.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatric Health
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Prematurity and low birth weight are recognized risk factors for early childhood cognitive development.
- Existing research suggests that developmental delays associated with these factors may diminish over time.
- Understanding the long-term cognitive trajectory of preterm and low birth weight children is crucial for timely interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the catch-up in cognitive functioning, including language and mathematics skills, in preterm and low birth weight children.
- To compare the cognitive development of preterm and low birth weight children with their full-term, normal birth weight peers.
- To identify the relative contributions of environmental and perinatal factors to cognitive development in this cohort.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.
- Compared 81 preterm (< 38 weeks) low birth weight (< 2500 g) children aged 5–8 years with individually matched full-term, normal birth weight controls.
- Employed regression analyses to assess the influence of environmental and perinatal factors on cognitive outcomes.
Main Results:
- Preterm children exhibited significant delays in cognitive functioning only up to 6 years of age.
- Environmental factors explained a greater proportion of variance in cognitive development compared to perinatal factors.
- Evidence supports a transactional model where early self-righting tendencies in preterm children lead to environmental influences becoming more prominent.
Conclusions:
- Developmental delays in preterm and low birth weight children appear to be transient, with catch-up occurring by early school age.
- Environmental influences significantly shape cognitive development, potentially moderating the impact of perinatal factors.
- The findings support a dynamic, transactional relationship between the child and their environment in shaping long-term cognitive outcomes.
Abstract:
Prematurity and low birth weight have been considered to be important risk factors for cognitive development during early childhood; however, it has been suggested that the developmental delays disappear with age. Eighty-one preterm (< 38 weeks) low birth weight (< 2500 g) children between 5 and 8 years old from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were compared with individually matched full-term normal birth weight children to investigate the catch-up delays in cognitive functioning including language and mathematics skills. Preterm children showed a significant delay in cognitive functioning only until 6 years old. Regression analyses showed that environmental factors accounted for more variation in cognitive development than did perinatal factors. In support of a transactional model, preterm children exhibited a self-righting tendency during their early childhood so that eventually environmental influences overshadowed biological influences.