A 42-day tapering course of dexamethasone was associated with an increased risk of cerebral palsy. Possible explanations include an adverse effect of this therapy on brain development and/or improved survival of infants who either already have neurologic injury or who are at increased risk for such injury.

BACKGROUND-Studies of the relationship between ultrasound images from preterm newborns and developmental delay most often are based on small samples defined by birth weight and exclude infants not testable with standardized assessments.

Objective-To test the hypothesis that children born preterm are more likely to screen positive on the M-CHAT for an autism spectrum disorder.Study design-We explored the possibility that motor, vision, hearing and cognitive impairments might contribute to this increase.Results-Relative to children who could walk, the odds for screening positive on the M-CHAT was increased 23-fold for those unable to sit or stand independently and more than 7-fold for those needing assistance to walk. Compared with children without a CP diagnosis, those with quadriparesis were 13 times more likely and those with hemiparesis were 4 times more likely to screen positive. Children with major vision or hearing impairments were 8 times more likely to screen positive than those without such impairments. Relative to those with an MDI greater than 70, the odds for screening positive were increased 13-fold for those with an MDI below 55 and more than 4-fold for those with an MDI 55-69.Conclusion-Major motor, cognitive, visual, and hearing impairments appear to account for more than half of the positive M-CHAT screens among extremely low gestational age newborns. Even after eliminating those with such impairments, 10% of children, or nearly double the expected rate, screened positive.

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