title: Children born prematurely have atypical sensory profiles.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if children born prematurely exhibit atypical responses to normally occurring sensory stimuli, as measured by the Sensory Profile.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross-sectional study of children born at 32 weeks gestation, followed at 1 to 8 years of age. The Sensory Profile questionnaire was completed by each child's primary caregiver. The overall Sensory Profile was considered atypical if any quadrant or section score was >2 s.d. from the mean of the Sensory Profile validation group. Bivariate analyses were performed to determine associations between risk factors for adverse neurodevelopment and overall atypical Sensory Profiles. A section or quadrant was considered atypical if its score was >2 s.d. from the mean. A test of proportions was used to compute observed versus expected scores for each section and quadrant (Sensory Profile scores were based on a normal distribution so one would expect approximately 95% of participants to score within 2 s.d. of the mean).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of our 107 participants, 39% had an atypical score in at least one section or quadrant. No specific perinatal or neonatal risk factors were associated with atypical overall Sensory Profiles (P0.05 for all). Children born prematurely were at risk of having atypical scores in the auditory, tactile and vestibular processing sections, and in the four Sensory Profile quadrants (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children born prematurely exhibit atypical sensory behaviors on the Sensory Profile. Further investigation to understand the underlying neural mechanisms and to develop effective interventions are critical to support neurodevelopment for these children.
authors: Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors: A C
authors: AC
authors: Wickremasinghe
authors: E E
authors: EE
authors: Rogers
authors: B C
authors: BC
authors: Johnson
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Shen
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Barkovich
authors: E J
authors: EJ
authors: Marco
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis