Impact of family structure and stability on academic outcome in preterm children at 10 years of age. Neurodevelopmental pathways to preterm children's specific and general mathematic abilities. Long-term cognition, achievement, socioemotional, and behavioral development of healthy late-preterm infants. Effects of Early Intervention on Cognitive Function of Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants, Effect of an early intervention programme on development of moderate and late preterm infants at 36 months: a randomized controlled study. Effect of a developmental program on motor performance in infants born preterm. Enduring effects of prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses on children: follow-up of a randomized trial among children at age 12 years. Transitions on and off AFDC: implications for parenting and children's cognitive development. “Expectant Parents”: Study protocol of a longitudinal study concerning prenatal (risk) factors and postnatal infant development, parenting, and parent-infant relationships Randomised trial of parental support for families with very preterm children: outcome at 5 years Cognitive development in low risk preterm infants at 3–4 years of life A Developmental Approach to Prevention Research: Configural Antecedents of Early Parenthood A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness of an Early-Intervention Program in Reducing Parenting Stress After Preterm Birth Randomized controlled trial of antenatal social support to prevent preterm birth Prevention of preterm birth. Role of daily telephone contact. Effect of Teaching on Primiparas' Perceptions of Their Newborn Psychological functioning and health-related quality of life in adulthood after preterm birth.
OBJECTIVE To compare school performance at age 10 years in a cohort of extremely preterm children and term control subjects and to examine the impact of family composition and stability on performance . STUDY DESIGN Prospect i ve , longitudinal follow-up from birth to 10 years of age of a regional cohort of children born at 24 to 31 weeks of gestational age and sociodemographically matched term control subjects .  Family composition , extent of parental care giving , and family moves were tracked sequentially . At 10 years , academic achievement and school performance were ascertained for 118 of 125 ( 94 % ) preterm survivors and 119 of 125 ( 95 % ) term children . RESULTS Term children were more likely to demonstrate optimal school outcome ( appropriate grade level without additional classroom assistance ) than were preterm children ( odds ratio 3.4 , 95 % CI 1.9 - 6.0 ) . Medical complications related to prematurity had little impact on school outcome . Among preterm children , optimal school outcome was significantly associated with increased parental education , child rearing by 2 parents ( regardless of marital status ) , and stability in family composition and geographic residence over 10 years . These environmental influences were less pronounced among term control subjects . CONCLUSION Although preterm children performed less well in school than term children , family factors were stronger predictors of school performance than were perinatal complications BACKGROUND Preterm children have problems with mathematics but knowledge about the predictors of specific mathematic abilities in preterm population s is scarce . AIMS This study investigated neurodevelopmental pathways to children 's general and specific mathematic abilities across the full gestational age range . STUDY DESIGN Prospect i ve geographically defined longitudinal investigation in Germany . SUBJECTS 947 children across the full gestational age range ( 23 - 41 weeks ) . Outcome measures . At 8 years , children 's cognitive and mathematic abilities were measured and residuals of a regression predicting mathematic scores by IQ were used to identify specific mathematic abilities . RESULTS Neurodevelopmental cascade models revealed that adverse effects of preterm birth on mathematic abilities were mediated by neonatal risk . Specific mathematic abilities were uniquely predicted by the duration of hospitalization and ventilation . CONCLUSIONS Prolonged neonatal medical treatment and , in particular , mechanical ventilation may lead to specific impairments in mathematic tasks . These findings have implication s for the mode of respiratory support in neonates , routine follow-up and intervention planning as well as research about brain reorganization after preterm birth OBJECTIVE To compare healthy late-preterm infants with their full-term counterparts from age 4 through 15 years for numerous st and ard cognitive , achievement , socioemotional , and behavioral outcomes . DESIGN Prospect i ve cohort study . SETTING National Institute of Child Health and Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development , 1991 - 2007 . PARTICIPANTS A total of 1298 children ( 53 born at 34 - 36 weeks ' gestational age ) , and their families , observed from birth through age 15 years . None of the infants had major health problems before or immediately following birth , and all the infants were discharged from the hospital within 7 days . MAIN EXPOSURE Preterm status : children born late preterm ( 34 - 36 weeks ) vs those born full term ( 37 - 41 weeks ) . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Eleven st and ard outcomes measuring cognition , achievement , social skills , and behavioral/emotional problems using the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised and the Child Behavior Checklist , administered repeatedly through age 15 years . RESULTS No consistent significant differences were found between late-preterm and full-term children for these st and ard measures from ages 4 to 15 years . Through age 15 years , the mean difference of most of these outcomes hovered around 0 , indicating , along with small confidence intervals around these differences , that it is unlikely that healthy late-preterm infants are at any meaningful disadvantage regarding these measures . CONCLUSION Late-preterm infants born otherwise healthy seem to have no real burdens regarding cognition , achievement , behavior , and socioemotional development throughout childhood The Infant Health and Development Program is a r and omized clinical trial to test the efficacy of educational and family support services and pediatric follow-up , offered during the first 3 years of life , in reducing the incidence of developmental delay in low birth weight preterm infants at eight clinical sites ( N = 985 ) . It was hypothesized that larger intervention effects would be found for the domains in which low birth weight preterm infants are known to have problems , specifically visual-motor and spatial skills and receptive language skills . These analyses explore the effects of the Infant Health and Development Program on different domains of cognitive functioning . Cognitive domains are identified by means of factor analysis of the intelligence tests used at 12 , 24 , and 36 months ( Bayley Scales of Infant Development ( including the Mental and Motor scales ) at 12 and 24 months ; the Stanford-Binet , Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test , and Beery Test of Visual Motor Intergration at 36 months ) . Our results reveal that , although intervention benefits accrue across cognitive domains at 24 and 36 months , gains are most pronounced for receptive language and visual-motor and spatial skills UNLABELLED Aim of the present study was to examine the long-term effect of an early intervention for preterm infants on cognitive , gross motor and behavioural outcomes at 36 months corrected age . One hundred and eighteen preterm infants born 2005 - 2006 with gestational age ≥ 30.0 and < 36.0 weeks were r and omized to an early intervention involving the Mother-Infant Transaction Program ( n = 61 ) or a control group ( n = 57 ) . At 36 months , 32 children in the intervention and 30 in the control group were assessed . OUTCOME MEASURES Ages & Stages Question naire , Ages & Stages Question naire : Social-Emotional , Child Behaviour Checklist 1½-5 and Mullen Scale of Early Learning . The intervention programme had no effect on cognitive , motor or behavioural development in this group of mainly moderate and late preterm infants at 36 months corrected age . Four explanations may be proposed : the programme has a less effect on moderate and late preterm infants than in more preterm infants ; modifications of the intervention might increase efficacy ; a cumulative effect of the intervention leads to more obvious effects at later ages , and an improved st and ard care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units may support infant development A r and omised controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of a motor developmental program in improving motor performance in Thai infants born preterm . Eighty-four preterm born infants were r and omly assigned to either a control or intervention group . Additionally , 27 low-risk preterm infants were included forming a comparative group for this study . From term equivalent age to four months adjusted age , all infants had their motor performance assessed monthly with the Test of Infant Motor Performance by one of the physiotherapist research assistants blind to group assignment and infants ' adjusted age . In addition , the intervention infants received a developmental program at each monthly visit . Motor performance for each group plotted against age revealed linear trends of progression . The intervention group showed the greatest improvement . Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant differences across age and among groups . Scheffé comparisons indicated that the mean differences between each pair of the three groups were significant and supported the finding of greater improvement of the intervention infants over the control group . Thus the results suggest that the intervention program is likely to have beneficial effects when offered to a similar population of preterm born infants OBJECTIVE To test the effect of prenatal and infancy home visits by nurses on 12-year-old , firstborn children 's use of substances , behavioral adjustment , and academic achievement . DESIGN R and omized controlled trial . SETTING Public system of obstetric and pediatric care in Memphis , Tennessee . PARTICIPANTS We studied 12-year-old , firstborn children ( n = 613 ) of primarily African American , economically disadvantaged women ( 743 r and omized during pregnancy ) . INTERVENTION Program of prenatal and infancy home visits by nurses . OUTCOME MEASURES Use of cigarettes , alcohol , and marijuana ; internalizing , externalizing , and total behavioral problems ; and academic achievement . RESULTS By the time the firstborn child was 12 years of age , those visited by nurses , compared with those in the control group , reported fewer days of having used cigarettes , alcohol , and marijuana during the 30-day period before the 12-year interview ( 0.03 vs 0.18 , P = .02 ) and were less likely to report having internalizing disorders that met the borderline or clinical threshold ( 22.1 % vs 30.9 % , P = .04 ) . Nurse-visited children born to mothers with low psychological re sources , compared with their control group counterparts , scored higher on the Peabody Individual Achievement Tests in reading and math ( 88.78 vs 85.70 , P = .009 ) and , during their first 6 years of education , scored higher on group-administered st and ardized tests of math and reading achievement ( 40.52 vs 34.85 , P = .02 ) . No statistically significant program effects were found on children 's externalizing or total behavioral problems . CONCLUSIONS Through age 12 , the program reduced children 's use of substances and internalizing mental health problems and improved the academic achievement of children born to mothers with low psychological re sources The goal of current national and state legislation on welfare reform is to decrease the number of people who are dependent on public assistance  , most of whom are mothers and their young children . Mothers ' patterns of welfare receipt in the 3 years following the birth of a child were examined vis-à-vis their associations with maternal emotional distress ( General Health Question naire ) , provision of learning experiences ( Home Observation of the Measurement of the Environment ) , parenting behavior , and the child 's cognitive test score ( Stanford-Binet ) in the third year of life . The data set was the Infant Health and Development Program , an eight-site r and omized clinical trial design ed to test the efficacy of educational and family support services in reducing developmental delays in low-birthweight , preterm infants ( N = 833 ) . Strong negative associations were found between receiving welfare and parenting behavior and child outcomes at age 3 years . Outcomes varied depending on when the mother received public assistance  ( earlier or later in her child 's first 3 years ) and family poverty status on leaving welfare . The parenting behavior of mothers who had left welfare by their child 's third birthday was more likely to be authoritarian if she had left public assistance without also leaving poverty . Implication s of these findings for the well-being of children in low-income families are discussed Background While the importance of the infant-parent relationship from the child ’s perspective is acknowledged worldwide , there is still a lack of knowledge about predictors and long-term benefits or consequences of the quality of  parent-infant relationships  from the parent ’s perspective . The purpose of this prospect i ve study is to investigate the quality of parent-infant relationships  from parents ’ perspectives , both in the prenatal and postpartum period . This study therefore focuses on prenatal ( risk ) factors that may influence the quality of pre- and postnatal bonding , the transition to parenthood , and bonding as a process within families with young children . In contrast to most research concerning pregnancy and infant development , not only the roles and experiences of mothers during pregnancy and the first two years of infants ’ lives are studied , but also those of fathers . Methods / design The present study is a prospect i ve longitudinal cohort study , in which pregnant women ( N = 466 ) and their partners ( N = 319 ) are followed from 15 weeks gestation until their child is 24 months old . During pregnancy , midwives register the presence of prenatal risk factors and provide obstetric information after the child ’s birth . Parental characteristics are investigated using self-report question naires at 15 , 26 , and 36 weeks gestational age and at 4 , 6 , 12 , and 24 months postpartum . At 26 weeks of pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum , parents are interviewed concerning their representations of the ( unborn ) child . At 6 months postpartum , the mother-child interaction is observed in several situations within the home setting . When children are 4 , 6 , 12 , and 24 months old , parents also completed question naires concerning the child ’s ( social-emotional ) development and the parent-child relationship . Additionally , at 12 months information about the child ’s physical development and well-being during the first year of life is retrieved from National Health Care Centres . Discussion The results of this study may contribute to early identification of families at risk for adverse parent-infant relationships , infant development , or parenting . Thereby this study will be relevant for the development of policy , practice , and theory concerning infant mental health Aims : To test the effectiveness of a home based developmental education intervention in improving outcome at 5 years for very preterm infants . Methods : The Avon Premature Infant Project ( APIP ) is a r and omised controlled trial in which the parents of 284 babies born <33 weeks gestational age received a developmental education programme , a social support intervention , or st and ard care .  A term reference population was also recruited . This study reports outcomes at 5 years ( mean age 58 months 15 days ) for 187 ( 66 % ) of these children without disability . Outcomes were assessed using the British Ability Scales II for cognitive development , the Movement ABC for motor impairment , and the Child Behavior Checklist for behavioural problems . Results : Preterm infants showed poorer cognitive performance than their term peers . Mean ( SD ) general conceptual ability ( GCA ) scores were : Portage 99.2 ( 15.7 ) ; parent adviser 100.3 ( 14.8 ) ; preterm control 101.1 ( 15.0 ) ; term reference 107.2 ( 13.4 ) . There were no significant differences between preterm groups in GCA scores indicating no effect of either intervention . Similarly , there was no significant effect of intervention on behavioural or motor outcomes . Further analyses , in which outcome data were adjusted for social factors , did not reveal any differences between the three preterm groups or by subgroups classified by a range of perinatal variables . Conclusion : The small advantage shown at 2 years of age is no longer detectable at 5 years . These results question the effectiveness of early intervention in enhancing cognitive , behavioural , and motor function at 5 years Background : Major neurological h and icaps and neuropsychological disturbances are more common in ex-preterm children than their counterparts born at term . Objective : To establish in a prospect i ve study whether a characteristic neuropsychological profile exists in ex-preterm children who do not exhibit neurodevelopmental deficits on routine clinical examination . Methods : Thirty intellectually normal children born preterm ( 30–34 weeks gestation ) without major neurological disabilities and a control group of term children matched for age , sex , and parental educational and occupational status were assessed at 3–4 years of age to obtain a complete neuropsychological profile . Intellectual ability , language comprehension and expression , perceptual and visual motor function , working memory , and attention and behavioural problems were investigated . Results : Even in the absence of major neurological signs , children born preterm achieved lower mean scores than controls on the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale ( 110.8 v 121 , p<0.001 ) , visual perception test ( 33.8 v 42.7 , p<0.001 ) , visual motor integration test ( 42.6 v 47.4 , p = 0.049 ) , memory for location test ( 8.4 v 9.5 , p = 0.007 ) , sustained attention test ( 41.6 v 51.5 , p = 0.009 ) , and the picture vocabulary test ( 33.3 v 44.7 , p = 0.021 ) . Conclusions : Neuropsychological abnormalities can be detected early in childhood in apparently normal ex-preterm children and are consistent with a growing body of evidence that prematurity may be associated with long term neuropsychological morbidity in childhood and adolescence A developmental framework emphasizing the combined impact of correlated constraints within and without the individual was applied to a prospect i ve longitudinal study of  early parenthood  . The purpose was to use a person-approach to the analysis of longitudinal data to clarify risk for early parenthood and to generate hypotheses about potentially useful intervention strategies . Respondents were 475 youth who were assessed annually from seventh grade through the end of high school and , again , at ages 20 and 24 . The risk patterns associated with parenthood were the same for both sexes . Individuals with a middle-school configuration of low socioeconomic status , high aggression , low academic skills , low popularity , and prior grade failure were most likely to become parents by early adulthood . Risk for early parenthood increased substantially for respondents who dropped out of school early , regardless of their initial risk status BACKGROUND . Preterm birth has been associated with increased parenting stress in early infancy , and some reports have found this to be a risk factor for later behavioral problems . There are , however , few studies and conflicting results . Information about the fathers is scarce . OBJECTIVES . Our goal was to study the effects of an early-intervention program on parenting stress after a preterm birth until 1 year corrected age . METHODS . A r and omized , controlled trial was conducted including infants with a birth weight < 2000 g treated at the University Hospital of North Norway Trust , which serves the 2 northern-most counties in Norway , to examine the effects of a modified version of the Mother-Infant Transaction Program on parenting stress measured by the Parenting Stress Index . A term control group was also recruited . The Parenting Stress Index was administered to the mothers at 6 and 12 months ’ corrected age and to the fathers at 12 months ’ corrected age . The intervention consisted of 8 sessions shortly before discharge and 4 home visits by specially trained nurses focusing on the infant ’s unique characteristics , temperament , and developmental potential and the interaction between the infant and the parents . RESULTS . Seventy-one infants were included in the preterm intervention group , and 69 were included in the preterm control group . The preterm groups were well balanced . Seventy-four infants were included in the term control group . Compared with the preterm controls , both the mothers and fathers in the preterm intervention group reported significant lower scores in child domain , parent domain , and total stress on all occasions except the mother-reported child domain at 12 months . These differences were not related to birth weight or gestational age . The level of stress among the preterm intervention group was comparable to their term peers . Both parents in the intervention group reported consistently lower scores within the distractibility/hyperactivity , reinforces parents , competence , and attachment subscales compared with the preterm control group . There were no differences in mean summary stress scores between the mothers and fathers in the 2 preterm groups at 12 months , but the intraclass correlation coefficient was higher in the intervention group . CONCLUSIONS . This early-intervention program reduces parenting stress among both mothers and fathers of preterm infants to a level comparable to their term peers . We are now study ing whether this will result in long-term beneficial effects Objective — To test the effect of a programme of additional antenatal social support on the occurrence of preterm birth ( a birth from 20 to 36 weeks gestation ) in women at risk of preterm birth OBJECTIVE To compare the effectiveness of routine management of patients at high risk for preterm delivery to the effectiveness of routine management in combination with daily telephone nursing contact . STUDY DESIGN The control group , 1 ( n = 21 ) , had education and frequent prenatal visits and cervical examinations . The study group , 2 ( n = 21 ) , had education , frequent prenatal visits and cervical examination , and daily telephone contact . Group 3 ( n = 22 ) received education but refused to participate . RESULTS There were no significant differences ( SD ) between groups in race , smoking , age , multiple gestation , visits , diagnosis of premature labor , mean days gained after diagnosis of premature labor , tocolytic use or bed rest . There was also no SD in preterm birth rate , mode of delivery , number of maternal or neonatal hospital days , mean neonatal weight or gestational age at delivery between groups . While not reducing the overall incidence of preterm birth , this management for all groups result ed in a more advanced gestational age at the time of delivery ( mean change = 7.5 weeks , P < .0001 ) when compared to the patient 's first preterm birth . CONCLUSION This study indicated that daily contact , while providing reassurance and support , did not change the outcome when the study group was compared to women managed similarly but without daily contact To determine if a relationship exists between structured , informative inhome teaching concerning infant behavior and  primiparous mothers ' perceptions of their newborn . 30 primip-aras completed Broussard 's Neonatal Perception Inventories I and II . The sample —30 women between the ages of 18 and 30 who had had no chronic disorders and had experienced normal pregnancy , labor , delivery , and postpartal course — was deliberately selected from a 489-bed community teaching hospital ; 15 women were assigned r and omly to a  control  group and 15 to an experimental group . All participants completed NPII on their first or second postpartum day . Experimental participants received structured , informative teaching concerning infant behavior two to four days after discharge . All subjects were again visited at one month to complete NPI II . Data were analyzed by t test ; significance was set at p=.05 . No significant difference was found between the groups in NPI I perceptions . On NPI II a significantly positive change in perception was found for the experimental group , but not for the control group The aim of this study was to determine if preterm birth is associated with socioeconomic status ( SES ) , psychological functioning , and health-related quality of life ( HRQoL ) in adulthood . We used prospect i ve follow-up of 192 adult offspring of mothers who took part in a r and omized controlled trial of antenatal betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome ( 66 born at term [ 33 males , 33 females ] 126 born preterm [ 66 males , 60 females ] ) .  Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence . Working memory and attention was assessed using the Benton Visual Retention Test , the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test , and the Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scale . Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory II , the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , and the Schizotypy Traits Question naire . H and edness was assessed using the Edinburgh H and edness Inventory . HRQoL was assessed using the Short Form-36 Health Survey . Moderately preterm birth ( median gestation 34wks , mean birthweight 1946 g [ SD 463 g ] ) was not related to later marital status , educational attainment , SES , cognitive functioning , working memory , attention , or symptoms of anxiety or schizotypy at 31 years of age . Preterm birth was associated with fewer symptoms of depression and higher levels of satisfaction in three of the eight HRQoL domains measured ( bodily pain , general health perception , and social functioning ) . Adults who were born moderately preterm have SES , psychological functioning , and HRQoL consistent with those who were born at term . This good long-term outcome can not be extrapolated to those with early childhood disability or very low birthweights
premature infants are more susceptible to motor development , behavior and academic performance impairment when compared to term infants .
OBJECTIVES to examine and synthesize the available knowledge in the literature about the effects of preterm birth on the development of school-age children .