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. 2022 Jun;111(6):1167-1175.
doi: 10.1111/apa.16316. Epub 2022 Mar 22.

Neurodevelopmental disorders and somatic diagnoses in a national cohort of children born before 24 weeks of gestation

Eva Morsing  1 , Pia Lundgren  2 , Anna-Lena Hård  2 , Alexander Rakow  3 , Lena Hellström-Westas  4 , Lena Jacobson  2   5 , Mats Johnson  6 , Staffan Nilsson  7   8 , Lois E H Smith  9 , Karin Sävman  10   11 , Ann Hellström  2
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Neurodevelopmental disorders and somatic diagnoses in a national cohort of children born before 24 weeks of gestation

Eva Morsing et al. Acta Paediatr. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Aim: This study investigated childhood diagnoses in children born extremely preterm before 24 weeks of gestation.

Methods: Diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders and selected somatic diagnoses were retrospectively retrieved from national Swedish registries for children born before 24 weeks from 2007 to 2018. Their individual medical files were also examined.

Results: We studied 383 children born at a median of 23.3 (range 21.9-23.9) weeks, with a median birthweight of 565 (range 340-874) grams. Three-quarters (75%) had neurodevelopmental disorders, including speech disorders (52%), intellectual disabilities (40%), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (30%), autism spectrum disorders (24%), visual impairment (22%), cerebral palsy (17%), epilepsy (10%) and hearing impairment (5%). More boys than girls born at 23 weeks had intellectual disabilities (45% vs. 27%, p < 0.01) and visual impairment (25% vs. 14%, p < 0.01). Just over half of the cohort (55%) received habilitation care. The majority (88%) had somatic diagnoses, including asthma (63%) and failure to thrive/short stature (39%).

Conclusion: Most children born before 24 weeks had neurodevelopmental disorders and/or additional somatic diagnoses in childhood and were referred to habilitation services. Clinicians should be aware of the multiple health and developmental problems affecting these children. Resources are needed to identify their long-term support needs at an early stage.

Keywords: extremely preterm birth; habilitation care; long-term support; neurodevelopmental disorders; somatic disorders.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
(A) Percentage of children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders by gestational age. Significant differences are presented as *p < 0.05. (B) Percentage of children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders and significant associations with sex. Significant differences are presented as *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Percentage of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, somatic diagnoses and/or a combination of the 2, as defined in Tables 1 and 2, in different age groups. Significant differences over time are presented as *p < 0.05
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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