Ten‐year follow‐up of children born before 29 gestational weeks: health, cognitive development, behaviour and school achievement

Abstract

Since the mid‐1990s several studies have reported poor school performance in extremely preterm infants. The necessity to provide a full picture of the child's situation has been indicated. In a southern Swedish population 32 120 infants were born during the 2‐y period 1985‐1986. In total, 121 infants (0.4%) were reported liveborn before the 29th gestational wk and 12 (0.04%) were reported stillborn. Only 65 infants (50%) survived to the age of 10 y. The aim of this study was to evaluate the situation of extremely preterm (EPT) children at school, compared with that of full‐term (FT) control children, at the age of 10 y. Health, cognitive development, school achievement and behaviour were measured. Ninety‐two percent of the preterm children had no major neurological disability and most were in good health. The EPT children had an IQ of 90 ± 15 vs 106 ±15 (mean ± SD) for the FT children (p < 0.001), and on the test of Visual‐Motor Integration, the EPT children had 93.3 ± 12.2 vs 109.6 ± 14.2 for FT peers (p < 0.001). On both tests the differences between the groups corresponded to approximately one standard deviation. Thirty‐eight percent of the EPT children performed below grade level at school. Thirty‐two percent had general behavioural problems and 20% had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, compared with 10% and 8%, respectively, in the FT group. EPT children require interventions to support their development and reduce behavioural problems. □Behaviour, development, extremely preterm, follow‐up, health, school achievement