The value of correction for age in the assessment of prematurely born children.
The value of correction-for-age in assessing psychomotor development during the first year of life was studied in prematurely born children. As part of a prospective follow-up study two pre-term age cohorts, born between 1976 and 1977, were evaluated prospectively to the age of 4.5 years. Data on first year psychomotor development were able to be collected concerning 66 prematurely born children and 36 full-term controls, whose neurodevelopmental and psychological status were found to be normal at the age of 4 years. On using uncorrected ages (chronological ages), achievement of developmental stages was significantly later among the premature children than among the fullterm children. If the corrected age was used, the developmental profile of the premature children became similar to that of the full-term controls. Over-correction in relation to the achievement of early developmental stages was found among very premature children (those born at or before 33 weeks of gestation). Over-correction diminished during the first year of life. On the basis of the present study, both corrected and uncorrected ages should be used when assessing first-year development, especially in very premature children.
Matilainen
R
R
Children's Hospital, University of Kuopio, Finland.
D002657:Child Development; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000523:psychology*; D007804:Language Development; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011597:Psychomotor Performance