Behavioral differences between preterm and full-term newborns as measured with the APIB system scores: I

Abstract

This study investigates the association between gestational age at birth and behavioral functioning 2 weeks after due date. Ninety-eight healthy newborns were stratified into three gestational age groups—early-born preterms (PPT), 27 to 32 weeks; middle-group preterms (PT), 33 to 37 weeks; and full-terms (FT), 38 to 41 weeks—and their behavior was examined using the system scores of the Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB). All infants were free of medical complications. The PPTs ( n = 33) and the PTs ( n = 31) showed significantly more autonomic, motoric, state, attentional, and self-regulatory disorganization and reactivity, and required substantially more examiner facilitation than the FTs ( n = 34). The differences between PPTs and PTs were less pronounced and did not reach significance. Prospective classification of a second sample of 20 full-terms and 20 preterms under 34 weeks gestation using discrimination rules based upon the first sample had an overall success of 92.5%. This study suggests that healthy preterm infants show significantly more disorganized behavior than healthy fullterms at 2 weeks alter due date. The APIB appears to be a robust measure of such preterm-full-term differences.