Perinatal, neonatal, developmental and demographic predictors of intelligence at 4 years of age among low birth weight children: a panel study with a 2-year follow-up

Abstract

Intoduction Childhood intelligence is an important predictor of later outcomes in life such as socioeconomic status or health. Hence, a deeper understanding of predictors of child intelligence should suggest points of intervention for children facing adversities. Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the predictive value of demographic, perinatal and neonatal variables after birth and developmental characteristics at age 2 for 4-year intelligence as outcome among low birth weight children. Methods We designed a panel study with a 2-year follow-up with 114 child-mother pairs. The outcome variable was IQ intelligence quotient at 4 years of age of LBW low birth weight children measured by the Wechsler Primary and Preschool Scales of Intelligence. Potential predictors were maternal education, family wealth, ethnic identity; sex, twin pregnancy, gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores, maternal smoking during pregnancy; diagnosis of intravetricular haemorrhage, retinopathy of prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia after birth and cognitive, language and motor development at age 2 measured by one composite score of the three Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development aggregated. Results Stepwise backward regression was carried out including significant variables from the bivariate analysis. The best model included 4 predictors which accounted for 57% of the variance of the full IQ intelligence at 4-years of age. Maternal higher education was significant positive, below average family wealth and neonatal diagnosis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia were significant negative predictors in the model after birth. 2-year developmental characteristics such as cognitive, motor and language skills were positive predictors of the IQ intelligence at age 4. Conclusion Sociodemographic assessment at birth and developmental assessment at two years of age are of crucial importance to recognize children at high risk for delayed cognitive development. High-risk children should be directed to supportive interventions and their development should be regulary monitored.

Correlation Analysis of Attention and Intelligence of Preterm Infants at Preschool Age: A Premature Cohort Study

“…In our previous studies, we found that gestational age and birth body weight played important roles in the risk of these dysfunctions [ 19 ]. Likewise, previous studies have also reported that birth weight or gestational age were associated with intelligence [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ] and attention deficits [ 28 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], Other perinatal and postnatal factors can also correlate with children’s cognitive development.…”

“…Although the assessments of this study can be comprehensive, it still had limitations. First, we did not analyze the impact of social and environmental factors on children’s cognitive development, such as mother’s education level or household income, which have been reported to relate to children’s cognition [ 28 ]. Second, not all participants received K-CPT and the ophthalmic evaluation.…”

Early Neurodevelopmental Assessments of Neonates Discharged From the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Physiatrist’s Perspective

“…Developmental surveillance should consider appropriate timing and intervals in terms of cost-effectiveness and availability of healthcare resources. If NICU graduates have more severe risk factors, they would be at an even higher risk of various developmental problems [10][11][12]. Several risk factors that must be evaluated during NICU stay are summarized in Table 1 for clinicians not to delay neurodevelopmental evaluation for referral to the Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine.…”

“…According to the numbers and grades of risk factors (Table 1), a corrected age (CA) to visit for neurodevelopmental surveillance and follow-up periods are suggested in Fig. 1 [3,5,10,13,14].…”

“…BSID is popularly used to diagnose developmental delay in terms of which domain shows a problem and how much delay is presented in terms of percentiles [18,25]. In particular, BSID at the age of 2 years is known to predict motor impairment at the age of 4 years old [10,26].…”