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Early school outcomes for extremely preterm infants with transient neurological abnormalities
Author(s) -
Harmon Heidi M,
Taylor H Gerry,
Minich Nori,
WilsonCostello Deanne,
Hack Maureen
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
developmental medicine and child neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.658
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1469-8749
pISSN - 0012-1622
DOI - 10.1111/dmcn.12811
Subject(s) - pediatrics , gestational age , neurological examination , cognition , medicine , cohort , psychology , pregnancy , surgery , psychiatry , genetics , biology
Aim 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. Method 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 ( n =17), normal neurological assessment ( n =89), or neurologically abnormal assessment ( n =18). The children were assessed at a mean age of 5 years 11 months ( SD 4mo) on cognition, academic achievement, motor ability, and behavior. Results 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 p <0.05). Interpretation 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.