Small for Gestational Age Moderate to Late Preterm Children: A Neuropsychological Follow-up

Dev Neuropsychol. 2021 Jul;46(4):277-287. doi: 10.1080/87565641.2021.1939349. Epub 2021 Jun 28.

Abstract

Determine whether SGA constitutes a neurodevelopmental risk-factor of MLP, exploring if potential developmental difficulties at toddlerhood persist and are related to school-age performance. 109 SGA and 109 adequate for gestational age MLP children were evaluated at 2 and at 6.5 y.o. SGA children obtained poorer results in several areas at both timepoints; and their development at toddlerhood strongly correlated with only some results at school-age. SGA confers vulnerability to MLP, evolving from global/unspecific difficulties in toddlerhood to a domain-specific profile (attentional/dysexecutive) at 6.5. Findings claim the need for neuropsychological follow-up in MLP to identify emerging difficulties.

MeSH terms

  • Attention
  • Child
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Gestational Age
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Infant, Premature*
  • Infant, Small for Gestational Age* / psychology