Neuropsychological development of late preterm infants and early term infants at the age of 1 year: a follow-up study

Abstract:

Objective To study the level of neuropsychological development in late preterm infants and early term infants at the age of 1 year. Methods A total of 1 257 children with a corrected age of 1 year were enrolled as subjects. According to gestational age at birth, they were divided into an early preterm group (28-33⁺⁶ weeks), a late preterm group (34-36⁺⁶ weeks), an early term group (37-38⁺⁶ weeks), and a full-term group (39-41⁺⁶ weeks). Gesell Developmental Schedules were used to assess the neuropsychological development of the children, and the groups were compared in terms of neuropsychological development at the age of 1 year. Results There were significant differences in the developmental quotients of the five functional areas (adaptability, gross motor, fine motor, language and social ability) between the four groups at the age of 1 year (P < 0.05), and the full-term infants had the highest development quotients, followed by the early term infants, the late preterm infants, and the early preterm infants (P < 0.05). The full-term infants had the lowest rate of developmental delay in each functional area, while the early preterm infants had the highest rate (P < 0.05). Compared with the full-term infants, the early term infants had a higher risk of developmental delay in adaptability (OR=1.796, P < 0.05), and the late preterm infants had a higher risk of developmental delay in adaptability (OR=2.651, P < 0.05) and fine motor (OR=2.679, P < 0.05), while the early preterm infants had a higher risk of developmental delay in adaptability (OR=4.069, P < 0.05), fine motor (OR=3.710, P < 0.05), and social ability (OR=3.515, P < 0.05). Conclusions The risk of neuropsychological developmental delay decreases with the increase in gestational age in children at the age of 1 year, with a dose-response effect. There are varying degrees of developmental delay in early term infants and late preterm infants, and health care follow-up for early term infants and late preterm infants should be taken seriously.