title: Developmental outcomes at three years of age of infants with esophageal atresia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous work assessing early developmental outcomes of infants at one year of age following surgery for esophageal atresia (OA) and/or tracheoesophageal fistula (TOF) found a significantly lower score in expressive language compared with control infants. The purpose of this study was to determine whether these differences were still evident at three years of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between August 2006 and July 2008, infants who required surgical correction of OA/TOF were prospectively enrolled as part of a large study which examined developmental outcomes following surgery. Patients were reassessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development Version III. Cognition, expressive and receptive language, fine motor and gross motor skills scores were compared with both the standardized norms and also with contemporaneous control infants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  24 of the 31 infants (77%) assessed at one year were reassessed at three years of age. There was no significant difference between the Bayley scores of the infants with OA/TOF and the standardized norms of the tests in four of the subsets: cognition, expressive language, fine and gross motor skills. Infants with OA scored higher than normative values for the receptive language subscale (P=0.001). When compared with the controls, there were no significant differences in any of the subscales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with the outcomes at one year, infants with OA/TOF have improved and were scoring within the normal range for the assessment at three years. This may in part be because of the early intervention services which many of these children were provided.
authors.affiliation: Grace Centre for Newborn Care, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia; Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Grace Centre for Newborn Care, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia; Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loughran-Fowlds
authors.affiliation: Grace Centre for Newborn Care, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Halliday
authors.affiliation: Grace Centre for Newborn Care, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia; Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Australia; Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Badawi
authors.affiliation: Grace Centre for Newborn Care, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Australia; Douglas Cohen Department of Paediatric Surgery, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: andrew.holland@health.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: Andrew J A
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Holland
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002657:Child Development; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D004933:Esophageal Atresia / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D009517:New South Wales; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014138:Tracheoesophageal Fistula / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Developmental outcome; Oesophageal atresia; Tracheoesophageal fistula