Premium
Neonatal Follow‐up of Very Low Birthweight/Extremely Low Birthweight Infants to School Age: A Critical Overview
Author(s) -
ORNSTEIN M.,
OHLSSON A.,
EDMONDS J.,
ASZTALOS E.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1991.tb11943.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pediatrics , attrition , socioeconomic status , gross motor skill , low birth weight , remedial education , motor skill , pregnancy , population , psychiatry , environmental health , psychology , mathematics education , dentistry , biology , genetics
. Neonatal follow‐up studies of school age children, published in the last decade, were critically reviewed. Nine studies examined extremely low birthweight infants (≤1000 g) and 16 involved very low birthweight infants (≤1500 8). The majority of children had age appropriate I.Q. scores, however, there was a greater variability of test scores. There was an increased need for special education or remedial therapy. Visual‐motor integration deficits were frequently reported. Behavioural difficulties were described. Fine and gross motor incoordination was identified. There was no conclusive correlation between perinatal course and school outcome. Gender did appear to influence outcome, in the small percent of studies which examined this variable, with females generally faring better. Low socioeconomic status was the most frequently reported predictor of poor outcome. Identified methodological limitations included heterogeneous samples, lack of control groups, high attrition, variable diagnostic criteria and lack of consensus regarding correction for prematurity.