Neurocognitive outcomes in moderately preterm born adolescents

A E den Heijer; A S N Jansen; M van Kersbergen; N H van Dokkum; S A Reijneveld; J M Spikman; M L A de Kroon; A F Bos

doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106020

Neurocognitive outcomes in moderately preterm born adolescents

Early Hum Dev. 2024 Jun:193:106020. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106020. Epub 2024 Apr 26.

Authors

A E den Heijer¹, A S N Jansen², M van Kersbergen², N H van Dokkum³, S A Reijneveld⁴, J M Spikman⁵, M L A de Kroon⁶, A F Bos³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Beatrix Children's Hospital, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: a.e.den.heijer@umcg.nl.
² Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Beatrix Children's Hospital, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
³ Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Beatrix Children's Hospital, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Subdepartment of Clinical Neuropsychology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Centre Environment & Health, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

PMID: 38733834
DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106020

Abstract

Background: Early preterm (EP) born children are at risk of neurocognitive impairments persisting into adulthood. Less is known about moderately to late (MLP) preterm born children, especially after early childhood. The aim of this study was to assess neurocognitive functioning of MLP adolescents regarding intelligence, executive and attentional functioning, compared with EP and full-term (FT) adolescents.

Methods: This study was part of the Longitudinal Preterm Outcome Project (LOLLIPOP), a large community-based observational cohort study. In total 294 children (81 EP, 130 MLP, and 83 FT) were tested at age 14 to 16 years, regarding intelligence, speed of processing, attention, and executive functions. We used the Dutch version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition-Dutch Version (WISC-III-NL), the Test of Everyday Attention for Children, and the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome for Children. We assessed differences between preterm-born groups with the FT group as a reference.

Results: Compared to the FT group, MLP adolescents scored significantly lower on two subtasks of the WISC-III-NL, i.e. Similarities and Symbol Search. EP adolescents performed significantly lower on all neuropsychological tests than their FT peers, except for the subtask Vocabulary. The MLP adolescents scored in between FT and EP adolescents on all tasks, except for three WISC-III-NL subtasks.

Conclusions: Neurocognitive outcomes of MLP adolescents fell mostly in between outcomes of their EP and FT peers. MLPs generally performed on a low-average to average level, and appeared susceptible to a variety of moderate neurodevelopmental problems at adolescent age, which deserves attention in clinical practice.

Publication types

Observational Study

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Attention
Cognition
Executive Function*
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature* / growth & development
Infant, Premature* / physiology
Infant, Premature* / psychology
Intelligence
Male