Early school outcomes for extremely preterm infants with transient neurological abnormalities. (26th May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Harmon, Heidi M; Taylor, H Gerry; Minich, Nori; Wilson‐Costello, Deanne; Hack, Maureen
• Is Part Of: Developmental medicine & child neurology. Volume 57:Number 9(2015:Sep.)
• Page Start: 865
• Page End: 871
• Publication Date: 2015-05-26
• Subjects: Child development -- Periodicals; Pediatric neurology -- Periodicals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.12811
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0012-1622

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="dmcn12811-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="dmcn12811-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Aim</title> <p>To determine if transient neurological abnormalities (TNA) at 9 months corrected age predict cognitive, behavioral, and motor outcomes at 6 years of age in extremely preterm infants.</p> </sec> <sec id="dmcn12811-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Method</title> <p>A cohort of 124 extremely preterm infants (mean gestational age 25.5wks; 55 males, 69 females), admitted to our unit between 2001 and 2003, were classified based on the Amiel‐Tison Neurological Assessment at 9 months and 20 months corrected age as having TNA (<italic>n</italic>=17), normal neurological assessment (<italic>n</italic>=89), or neurologically abnormal assessment (<italic>n</italic>=18). The children were assessed at a mean age of 5 years 11 months (SD 4mo) on cognition, academic achievement, motor ability, and behavior.</p> </sec> <sec id="dmcn12811-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Compared with children with a normal neurological assessment, children with TNA had higher postnatal exposure to steroids (35% vs 9%) and lower adjusted mean scores on spatial relations (84 [standard error {SE} 5] vs 98 [SE 2]), visual matching (79 [SE 5] vs 91 [SE 2]), letter–word identification (97 [SE 4] vs 108 [SE 1]), and spelling (76 [SE 4] vs 96 [SE 2]) (all <italic>p</italic><0.05).</p> </sec> <sec id="dmcn12811-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Interpretation</title> <p>Despite a normalized neurological assessment, extremely preterm children with a history TNA are at higher risk for lower cognitive and academic skills than those with normal neurological findings during their first year of school.</p> </sec> </abstract>