Cortical morphometry and cognition in very preterm and term-born children at early school age

Abstract

Very preterm birth influences brain development and may result in alterations of cortical morphometry. These structural alterations may interact with cognitive development. The aim of the present study was to investigate the structure-function relationship in school-aged very preterm and term-born control children. A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery was administered to 41 very preterm (<32 weeks of gestation) and 30 term-born control children aged seven to twelve years. The automated method FreeSurfer was used to obtain cortical thickness and cortical surface area measures from T1-weighted MRI images. Regional cortical thickness differed between groups but differences disappeared when controlling for age. Global cortical thickness differed between groups in the right hemisphere (very preterm children>controls). No group differences occurred for cortical surface area. The relationship between cortical morphometry and cognition differed between very preterm and control children. In very preterm children, some cognitive domains correlated positively and others negatively with regional cortical thickness and cortical surface area. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the structure-function relationship in very preterm children and their term-born peers. They add to the notion that this relationship varies depending on the brain region and the cognitive function in question and suggest developmental differences between very preterm and term-born children.

Keywords: Cognition; Cortical surface area; Cortical thickness; Morphometry; Preterm.