Physical growth in the neonatal intensive-care unit and neuropsychological performance at preschool age in very preterm-born singletons.
We studied the associations between early postnatal growth gains and neuropsychological outcome in very preterm-born children. Specifically, we wished to establish whether relationships exist between gains in head circumference (relative to gains in body-weight or length), from birth to hospital discharge, and intellectual, language, or motor, performance at preschool age. We used data from 127 preschoolers, born <33 weeks, all graduates of the William Beaumont Hospital Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit (NICU) in Royal Oak, MI. Cognitive, motor, and language outcomes were evaluated using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence-Revised, Peabody Developmental Scales - 2(nd) Edition, and the Preschool Language Scale - 3(rd) Edition, respectively. Differences between Z-scores at birth and hospital discharge, calculated for three anthropometric measures (head circumference, weight, length), were variables of interest in separate simultaneous multiple regression procedures. We statistically adjusted for sex, socioeconomic status, birth weight, length of hospitalization, perinatal complications, and intrauterine growth. Examination of the relationships between anthropometric indices and outcome measures revealed a significant association between NICU head growth and global intelligence, with the Z-difference score for head circumference accounting for a unique portion of the variance in global intelligence (ηp(2) =.04). Early postnatal head growth is significantly associated with neuropsychological outcome in very preterm-born preschoolers. To conclude, despite its relative brevity, NICU stay, often overlapping with the end of 2(nd) and with the 3(rd) trimester of pregnancy, appears to be a sensitive developmental period for brain substrates underlying neuropsychological functions.
1Department of Psychology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute,Wayne State University,Detroit,Michigan.
Sarah
S
Raz
1Department of Psychology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute,Wayne State University,Detroit,Michigan.
Angela K
AK
DeBastos
2Division of Pediatric Neuropsychology,Children's National Medical Center,Washington,District of Columbia.
Julie Bapp
JB
Newman
1Department of Psychology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute,Wayne State University,Detroit,Michigan.
Brittany N
BN
Peters
1Department of Psychology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute,Wayne State University,Detroit,Michigan.
Andrew M
AM
Heitzer
1Department of Psychology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute,Wayne State University,Detroit,Michigan.
Jamie C
JC
Piercy
3Department of Pediatrics,Southern Illinois University Medical School,Springfield,Illinois.
Daniel G
DG
Batton
D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012044:Regression Analysis
Neuropsychological tests