Small for gestational age - Somatic, neurological and cognitive development until adulthood

Abstract

The somatic, neurological and cognitive development of children born small for gestational age (SGA) until adulthood was assessed in recent studies. Studies that assessed mortality, morbidity, somatic, neurological and cognitive development of SGA children were compared. In the studies very low birth weight SGA children were compared to very low birth weight appropriate for age children (AGA, birth weight below 1500 g or 1250 g). Full-term SGA children were compared to full-term appropriate for age children. Growth of SGA children remained under the 10th percentile, if catch up growth did not occur until the end of the second year. Cerebral palsy appeared more often in VLBW-AGA than in VLBW-SGA children. Cognitive development problems appeared in VLBW-SGA and FT-SGA children more often than in VLBW-AGA and FT-AGA children. These cognitive development problems were observed mainly as poor school performance. When reaching adulthood, the differences in cognitive function seem to be less significant. Low socioeconomic status and persistence of microcephaly were associated with problems in neurological and cognitive development. Growth and cognitive development problems appeared more often in SGA children. More longterm studies are necessary to show, if these cognitive development problems remain significant until adulthood.