Abstract
Those born very preterm (VPT; <32 weeks gestational age) have an increased risk in developing a wide range of cognitive deficits. In early‐to‐late childhood, brain structure has been shown to be altered in VPT compared to full‐term (FT) children; however, the results are inconsistent. The current study examined subcortical volumes, cortical thickness, and surface area in a large cohort of VPT and FT children aged 4–12 years. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was obtained on 120 VPT and 146 FT children who returned up to three times, resulting in 176 VPT and 173 FT unique data points. For each participant, Corticometric Iterative Vertex‐based Estimation of Thickness was used to obtain global measurements of total brain, cortical grey and cortical white matter volumes, along with surface‐based measurements of cortical thickness and surface area, and Multiple Automatically Generated Templates (MAGeT) brain segmentation tool was used to segment the subcortical structures. To examine group differences and group–age interactions, mixed‐effects models were used (controlling for whole‐brain volume). We found few differences between the two groups in subcortical volumes. The VPT children showed increased cortical thickness in frontal, occipital and fusiform gyri and inferior pre–post–central areas, while thinning occurred in the midcingulate. Cortical thickness in occipital regions showed more rapid decreases with age in the VPT compared to the FT children. VPT children also showed both regional increases, particularly in the temporal lobe, and decreases in surface area. Our results indicate a delayed maturational trajectory in those born VPT.
Highlights
Very preterm (VPT) birth, defined as birth before 32 weeks gestational age (GA), has been associated with widespread impairments across cognitive domains in childhood that persist into adulthood (Anderson, 2014)
Often differing metrics were used to assess neuroanatomical differences. To clarify these discrepant findings in the literature, we investigated the brain structure in a large cohort of 200 VPT children spanning four to 12 years of age, and compared their developmental trajectories to matched full term (FT)-born children
The aim was to resolve the discrepancies in the literature and clarify any atypical maturational changes in brain structure related to VPT birth; to do this we included a large cohort of matched VPT and FT children, from early to mid-childhood and completed analyses on cortical thickness, surface area and deep gray matter volumes
Summary
Very preterm (VPT) birth, defined as birth before 32 weeks gestational age (GA), has been associated with widespread impairments across cognitive domains in childhood that persist into adulthood (Anderson, 2014). Understanding the underlying neural bases of these difficulties across development is crucial for understanding the critical periods for effective interventions and identifying those at higher risk for developing later cognitive/behavioural problems. Brain growth is occurring very rapidly with marked increases in cortical surface area relative to volume as cortical folding becomes more complex. Preterm birth occurs during this critical period and may wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hbm. Such perturbation could have lasting impacts on brain structure, including volumes of white and gray matter, surface area and cortical thickness
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