Petriina Munck

Stability of Cognitive Outcome From 2 to 5 Years of Age in Very Low Birth Weight Children

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the stability of cognitive outcomes of premature, very low birth weight (VLBW; ≤1500 g) children. METHODS: A regional cohort of 120 VLBW children born between 2001 and 2004 was followed up by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition, at 2 years of corrected age and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence–Revised at the age of 5 years. The Mental Development Index (MDI) and the full-scale IQ (FSIQ) were measured, respectively. A total of 168 randomly selected healthy term control children born in the same hospital were assessed for MDI and FSIQ. RESULTS: In the VLBW group, mean ± SD MDI was 101.2 ± 16.3 (range: 50–128), mean FSIQ was 99.3 ± 17.7 (range: 39–132), and the correlation between MDI and FSIQ was 0.563 (P < .0001). In the term group, mean MDI was 109.8 ± 11.7 (range: 54–128), mean FSIQ was 111.7 ± 14.5 (range: 73–150), and the correlation between MDI and FSIQ was 0.400 (P < .0001). Overall, 83% of those VLBW children who had significant delay (–2 SD or less) according to MDI had it also in FSIQ. Similarly, 87% of those children who were in the average range in MDI were within the average range in FSIQ as well. CONCLUSIONS: Good stability of cognitive development over time was found in VLBW children and in term children between the ages of 2 and 5 years. This conclusion stresses the value and clinical significance of early assessment at 2 years of corrected age. However, we also emphasize the importance of a long-term follow-up covering a detailed neuropsychological profile of these at-risk children.

Abnormal antenatal Doppler velocimetry and cognitive outcome in very‐low‐birth‐weight infants at 2 years of age

To study neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years of corrected age in very‐low‐birth‐weight (VLBW) (⩽ 1500 g) preterm infants with abnormal fetoplacental flow.

Crying behaviour in early infancy is associated with developmental outcome at two years of age in very low birth weight infants

Aim: To evaluate the association between infant fussing and crying and developmental outcome in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Working memory in very-low-birthweight children at the age of 11 years

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate the working memory (WM) of very-low-birthweight (VLBW, ≤ 1500 g) children at the age of 11 years using Baddeley’s WM model. A regional cohort of 95 VLBW children was assessed for the domains of the WM model (central executive [CE], visuospatial sketchpad [VS], and phonological loop [PL]) using subtests from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (WMTB-C) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). VLBW children were categorized into three groups according to their degree of brain pathology (normal, minor, or major) in neonatal brain magnetic resonance imaging at the term age, and the WM performance was compared between groups to test norms. The structure of the WM model was studied by analyzing correlations among domains. Even VLBW children with normal cognitive development (general ability index ≥ 85) performed worse compared to the test norms (M = 100, SD = 15) on CE (M = 87.64, SD = 20.54, p < .001) and VS (M = 91.65, SD = 11.03, p < .001), but their performance on PL was above the norm (M = 110.79, SD = 13.79, p < .001). VLBW children with major brain pathology performed significantly worse on VS and PL compared to the other groups. The correlations among the WM domains of the VLBW children differ from earlier findings in normative populations. To conclude, the WM of the VLBW children in the study differ—especially in the CE and VS subtest scores—from the normative population irrespective of the degree of brain pathology and level of cognitive development.

Spontaneous focusing on numerosity in preschool as a predictor of mathematical skills and knowledge in the fifth grade

Previous studies in a variety of countries have shown that there are substantial individual differences in childrens spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), and these differences are positively related to the development of early numerical skills in preschool and primary school. A total of 74 5-year-olds participated in a 7-year follow-up study, in which we explored whether SFON measured with very small numerosities at 5 years of age predicts mathematical skills and knowledge, math motivation, and reading in fifth grade at 11 years of age. Results show that preschool SFON is a unique predictor of arithmetic fluency and number line estimation but not of rational number knowledge, mathematical achievement, math motivation, or reading. These results hold even after taking into account age, IQ, working memory, digit naming, and cardinality skills. The results of the current study further the understanding of how preschool SFON tendency plays a role in the development of different formal mathematical skills over an extended period of time.