title: Very preterm birth is associated with disabilities in multiple developmental domains.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Follow-up studies in very preterm children usually present outcome for separate developmental domains. Presence of disabilities in more than one developmental domain will show a more serious outcome picture for extreme preterm infants and may be related to a different degree of perinatal problems.
  
  
  METHODS
  At 5.5 years corrected age, outcome in the neurological, motor, cognitive, and behavioral domain was studied in 157 children born < 30 weeks gestation. The children were divided into a normal, a single, or a multiple disability group. Group differences in background, clinical characteristics, and neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-nine percent had a normal developmental outcome, 17% had a single disability, and 44% had multiple disabilities. Multiple disabilities were associated with lower birth weight, BPD, and difficulties according to neurodevelopmental assessments at 2 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Assessments of different developmental domains show that most very preterm children had multiple disabilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Health, Pediatric Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands. a.vanbaar@uvt.nl
authors.forename: Anneloes L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: van Baar
authors.forename: Aleid G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: van Wassenaer
authors.forename: Judy M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Briët
authors.forename: Friedo W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Dekker
authors.forename: Joke H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kok
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*