Researchers have found that among very preterm born children, such subgroups could be identified with distinct outcome profiles, varying in type, severity, and deficits.
The study’s results were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
According to the study, about 2,000 very preterm born children from the nation of France were followed from birth up until age five. The very preterm born infants were said to have had a gestational duration of less than 32 weeks.
“The sample included 1977 children born very preterm (<32 weeks’ gestation) in 2011 from the French population-based EPIPAGE-2 cohort," the authors explained in their study.
“Four subgroups with distinct outcome profiles were distinguished: no deficit in any domain (45%); motor and cognitive deficits without behavioral/psychosocial deficits (31%); primarily behavioral and psychosocial deficits (16%); and deficits in multiple domains (8%).”
“This information is important for the development of interventions that are tailored to the needs of large subgroups of children across multiple domains of functioning. General neonatal and social/environmental factors may be useful for early identification of very preterm born children at risk for general rather than domain-specific impairments.”
