Prevalence of Language Delay among Healthy Preterm Children, Language Outcomes and Predictive Factors.

Miguel Pérez-Pereira

doi:10.3390/children8040282

Abstract

Language delay (LD) and its relationship with later language impairment in preterm children is a topic of major concern. Previous studies comparing LD in preterm (PT) and full-term (FT) children were mainly carried out with samples of extremely preterm and very preterm children (sometimes with additional medical problems). Very few of them were longitudinal studies, which is essential to understand developmental relationships between LD and later language impairment. In this study, we compare the prevalence of LD in low-risk preterm children to that of FT children in a longitudinal design ranging from 10 to 60 months of age. We also analyze which variables are related to a higher risk of LD at 22, 30 and 60 months of age. Different language tests were administered to three groups of preterm children of different gestational ages and to one group of full-term children from the ages of 10 to 60 months. ANOVA comparisons between groups and logistic regression analyses to identify possible predictors of language delay at 22, 30 and 60 months of age were performed. The results found indicate that there were practically no differences between gestational age groups. Healthy PT children, therefore, do not have, in general terms, a higher risk of language delay than FT children. Previous language delay and cognitive delay are the strongest and longest-lasting predictors of later language impairment. Other factors, such as a scarce use of gestures at 10 months or male gender, affect early LD at 22 months of age, although their effect disappears as children grow older. Low maternal education appears to have a late effect. Gestational age does not have any significant effect on the appearance of LD.

Highlights

IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
In relation to the first aim of the study which was to compare the prevalence of language delay in healthy preterm children (PR) with different gestational age (GA) to that of full-term children (FT), the results found indicate that there are no significant differences in the percentage of children with language delay among the four GA groups in the following language measures: Word production at 22 and 30 months of age as measured through the Galician Communicative Development Inventories (CDI), word comprehension at 60 months of age as measured through the PPVT, morphosyntactic production at 60 months of age as measured through the Test de Sintaxis de Aguado (TSA)
In relation with the second aim, which was to identify those variables related to a higher risk of language delay at 22, 30 and 60 months of age, the results found in the logistic regression analyses permit identification of different predictive factors, which vary according to the moment of assessment as well as the different linguistic abilities

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Preterm children are considered to be an at-risk population, though not all of them share the same percentage of risk. Important differences exist among preterm children in relation to different biomedical factors. Gestational age (GA), determines whether other factors co-exist. Birth weight (BW) is strongly associated with

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