Original ArticleDevelopmental Delay in Moderately Preterm-Born Children at School Entry
Section snippets
Methods
Longitudinal Preterm Outcome Project (Lollypop) is a large prospective cohort study on the growth, development, and general health of preterm children.13 The study’s main focus is on moderate preterm infants, born between 32 and 35+6 weeks gestation. The Lollypop cohort comprises a community-based sample of early and moderate preterm (born before 36 weeks gestation) infants and a random sample of full-term infants seen at preventive child healthcare centers (PCHCs), enriched with a sample of
Results
A total of 2517 of the 3194 eligible children (78.8%) were recruited for the study. Parents of 2050 of these children (81.4%) completed the ASQ. In >95% of cases, the mother filled out the ASQ. The median age of the children at completion of the ASQ was 46 months. Of the 2050 questionnaires, 1983 (97%) were completed within 3 months of the median age at completion (43-49 months). The final analyses were performed on this group, referred to hereinafter as “participating children.” Table I
Discussion
This study demonstrates a 2-fold greater prevalence of developmental delay at preschool age in moderately preterm‒born children compared with term-born children, and half the prevalence compared with early preterm‒born children. At preschool age, moderate preterm infants were more likely than full-term infants to have problems with fine motor, communication, and personal-social functioning. In these 3 domains, moderate preterm infants had problems similar to those of early preterm infants, but
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Cited by (0)
Supported by grants from the research foundation of the Beatrix Children’s Hospital, the Cornelia Foundation for the Handicapped Child, the A. Bulk-Child Preventive Child Health Care Research Fund, the Dutch Brain Foundation, and unrestricted investigator-initiated research grants from Friesland Campina, Hero, Abbott, and Pfizer Europe. The financers had no role at any stage of the project, including the decision to submit the manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
This study is part of a larger cohort study on the development, growth, and health of preterm-born children known as the Lollypop Study (controlled-trials.com ISRCTN 80622320). It is part of the study program of the postgraduate School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen. The Ages-and-Stages Questionnaire 48-month form was translated with permission from the author.