Functioning at school age of moderately preterm children born at 32 to 36 weeks' gestational age.
| Autor: | van Baar AL; Department of Pediatric Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands. a.l.vanbaar@uu.nl, Vermaas J, Knots E, de Kleine MJ, Soons P |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | Pediatrics [Pediatrics] 2009 Jul; Vol. 124 (1), pp. 251-7. |
| DOI: | 10.1542/peds.2008-2315 |
| Abstrakt: | Objective: To study outcome of low-risk moderately preterm birth between 32 and 36/7 weeks' gestation. Methods: 377 Moderately preterm children (M: 34.7, SD: 1.2 complete weeks), without need for neonatal intensive care and without dysmaturity or congenital malformations, were compared with 182 term children and assessed at eight years (M: 8.9, SD: 0.54). School situation, IQ, sustained attention, behavior problems, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity characteristics were studied. Results: Special education was attended by 7.7% of the moderately preterm children, more than twice the rate of 2.8% in the general Dutch population of this age. Additional exploration for two preterm subgroups of 32 to 33 versus 34 to 36 weeks' gestation showed a need for special education in 9.7% versus 7.3% and a significant difference in grade retention for 30% versus 17%, respectively. Of the children attending mainstream primary schools, grade retention was found in 19% of the preterm versus 8% of the comparison children. Adjusting for maternal education, a group difference of 3 points was found in IQ. The preterm children needed more time for the sustained attention task. The preterm children had more behavior problems (specifically internalizing problems with 27% scoring above the borderline cut-off), as well as more attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder characteristics (specifically attention deficits). Conclusions: Cognitive and emotional regulation difficulties affect functioning of moderately preterm children, as school problems, a slightly lower IQ, attention and behavioral problems are found when they are compared with term-born children. Identification and monitoring of precursors of these problems at younger age is needed in view of prevention purposes. |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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