Antenatal antecedents of a small head circumference at age 24-months post-term equivalent in a sample of infants born before the 28th post-menstrual week.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about the antecedents of microcephaly in early childhood among children born at extremely low gestational age.


OBJECTIVE
To identify some of the antecedents of microcephaly at age two years among children born before the 28th week of gestation.


METHODS
Observational cohort study.


METHODS
1004 infants born before the 28th week of gestation.


METHODS
Head circumference Z-scores of <-2 and >or=-2, <-1.


RESULTS
Risk of microcephaly and a less severely restricted head circumference decreased monotonically with increasing gestational age. After adjusting for gestational age and other potential confounders, the risk of microcephaly at age 2 years was increased if microcephaly was present at birth [odds ratio: 8.8 ((95% confidence interval: 3.7, 21)], alpha hemolytic Streptococci were recovered from the placenta parenchyma [2.9 (1.2, 6.9)], the child was a boy [2.8 (1.6, 4.9)], and the child's mother was not married [2.5 (1.5, 4.3)]. Antecedents associated not with microcephaly, but with a less extreme reduction in head circumference were recovery of Propionibacterium sp from the placenta parenchyma [2.9 (1.5, 5.5)], tobacco exposure [2.0 (1.4, 3.0)], and increased syncytial knots in the placenta [2.0 (1.2, 3.2)].


CONCLUSIONS
Although microcephaly at birth predicts a small head circumference at 2 years among children born much before term, pregnancy and maternal characteristics provide supplemental information about the risk of a small head circumference years later. Two findings appear to be novel. Tobacco exposure during pregnancy, and organisms recovered from the placenta predict reduced head circumference at age two years.
Leviton
Alan
A
Department of Neurology, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. alan.leviton@childrens.harvard.edu
Kuban
Karl
K
Allred
Elizabeth N
EN
Hecht
Jonathan L
JL
Onderdonk
Andrew
A
O'Shea
T Michael
TM
McElrath
Thomas
T
Paneth
Nigel
N
D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000209:etiology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006257:Head / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D008831:Microcephaly / Q000209:etiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010920:Placenta / Q000382:microbiology; D010922:Placenta Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects