Neurocognitive function of 10-year-old multiples born less than 28 weeks of gestational age.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:Few studies have examined the relationship between birth plurality and neurocognitive function among children born extremely preterm.STUDY DESIGN:We compared rates of Z-scores ≤ −2 on 18 tests of neurocognitive function and academic achievement at age 10 years in 245 children arising from twin pregnancies, 55 from triplet pregnancies, and 6 from a septuplet pregnancy to that of 568 singletons, all of whom were born before the 28th week of gestation.RESULTS:874 children were evaluated at age 10-years. After adjusting for confounders, children of multifetal pregnancies performed significantly better on one of 6 subtests of executive function than their singleton peers. Performance was similar on all other assessments of intelligence, language, academic achievement, processing speed, visual perception, and fine motor skills.CONCLUSION:We found no evidence that children born of multifetal pregnancies had worse scores than their singleton peers on assessments of neurocognitive and academic function.