title: Early school outcomes for extremely preterm infants with transient neurological abnormalities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if transient neurological abnormalities (TNA) at 9 months corrected age predict cognitive, behavioral, and motor outcomes at 6 years of age in extremely preterm infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cohort of 124 extremely preterm infants (mean gestational age 25.5wks; 55 males, 69 females), admitted to our unit between 2001 and 2003, were classified based on the Amiel-Tison Neurological Assessment at 9 months and 20 months corrected age as having TNA (n=17), normal neurological assessment (n=89), or neurologically abnormal assessment (n=18). The children were assessed at a mean age of 5 years 11 months (SD 4mo) on cognition, academic achievement, motor ability, and behavior.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with children with a normal neurological assessment, children with TNA had higher postnatal exposure to steroids (35% vs 9%) and lower adjusted mean scores on spatial relations (84 [standard error {SE} 5] vs 98 [SE 2]), visual matching (79 [SE 5] vs 91 [SE 2]), letter-word identification (97 [SE 4] vs 108 [SE 1]), and spelling (76 [SE 4] vs 96 [SE 2]) (all p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite a normalized neurological assessment, extremely preterm children with a history TNA are at higher risk for lower cognitive and academic skills than those with normal neurological findings during their first year of school.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Heidi M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Harmon
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: H Gerry
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Nori
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Minich
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Deanne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wilson-Costello
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hack
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric