Background: Controversy between short-term neonatal growth of very low birth-weight preterm (VLBW) and neurodevelopment may be affected by criteria changes of extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR). Objective: to determine if new EUGR criteria imply modifications in the relationship between old criteria and results of neuropsychological tests in preterm children. Patients and methods: 87 VLBW at 5–7 years of age were studied. Neuropsychological assessment included RIST test (Reynolds Intellectual Sctreening Test) and NEPSY-II (NE neuro, PSY psycolgy assessment) tests. The relationships between these tests and the different growth parameters were analyzed. Results: RIST index was correlated with z-score Fenton’s weight (p = 0.004) and length (p = 0.003) and with z-score IGW-21’s (INTERGRWTH-21 Project) weight (p = 0.004) and length (p = 0.003) at neonatal discharge, but not with z-score difference between birth and neonatal discharge in weight, length, and HC for both. We did not find a statistically significant correlation between Fenton or IGW-21 z-scores and scalar data of NEPSY-II subtasks. Conclusion: In our series, neonatal growth influence on neuropsychological tests at the beginning of primary school does not seem robust, except for RIST test. New EUGR criteria do not improve the predictive ability of the old ones.

Controversy between short-term neonatal growth of very low birth-weight preterm (VLBW) and neurodevelopment may be affected by new criteria of intra- and extrauterine growth restriction (IUGR and EUGR). Objective: To determine if IUGR and IUGR classic and new criteria are related to the neuropsychological development in VLBW. Patients and methods: 87 VLBW were studied at 5–7 years. Neuropsychological assessment included RIST test and NEPSY-II tests. Results of these tests were related to IUGR and EUGR classification using Fenton and INTERGROWTH-21 (IGW-21) graphs and standards. Results: Weight IUGR by Fenton and IGW-21 was 37.9 and 39.1% (Kappa 0.879). Classic (static) EUGR was 89.7% and 75.9%, respectively (Kappa 0.532). “True” EUGR was 52.9% and 36.8% (Kappa 0.683). Result of the RIST index was correlated with Fenton´s z-score weight (0.034), length (< 0.001) and head circumference (HC) (< 0.001) at birth; with IGW-21´s length (0.002) at birth; with Fenton´s weight (0.004) and length (0.003) at neonatal discharge; and with IGW-21´s weight (0.004) and length (0.003) at neonatal discharge. We found statistically significant differences in IQ when comparing cases with and without IUGR of weight, length and HC by Fenton; and length and HC by IGW-21; also we found differences in static EURG for length and HC for Fenton and IGW-21. In NEPSY-II subtasks we found some relationship in inhibitory control and visuospatial abilities. Conclusion: IUGR and EUGR classic and new concepts show different classification percentages of VLBW. This should be considered when assessing relationships with risk of alterations in neuropsychological tests at school initiation, due to the different results found depending on the classification criteria chosen.