title: Long-term cognitive and neurological outcome of preterm infants with postnatally acquired CMV infection through breast milk.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Long-term follow-up data on preterm infants with breast milk-acquired postnatal cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection are sparse.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To systematically evaluate the long-term cognitive outcome and prevalence of cerebral palsy (CP) in patients after postnatal CMV infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  All surviving infants <1500 g born in our centre between 1 June 1995 and 1 June 2000, and with postnatal CMV infection acquired at up to 3 months of corrected age, were eligible for our study; this included neurological and neurocognitive assessment, using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) at the age of >4 years. A blinded and controlled matched-pairs design was used with gestational age, gender and date of birth as matching criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 50 eligible children, 42 (84%) could be tested. There was no difference in the prevalence of cerebral palsy. Following CMV infection during their hospital stay, infants had significantly lower results in the simultaneous processing scale of the K-ABC (p=0.029) after correction for additional risk factors like socioeconomic status (SES). Results for the sequential and achievement scales were only slightly reduced (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems possible that breast milk-acquired CMV infection has a detrimental influence on cognitive development of preterm infants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Children's Hospital, Tuebingen, Germany. Rangmar.Goelz@med.uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Rangmar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goelz
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meisner
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bevot
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamprecht
authors.forename: Ingeborg
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kraegeloh-Mann
authors.forename: Christian F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Poets
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000254:growth & development*; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight / Q000254:growth & development*; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000821:virology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests
keywords: Breastfeeding; NEONATES; Virology