Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 10;10(7):1191.
doi: 10.3390/children10071191.

Assessing Behavioral Disorders with SDQ in Very Preterm Children at 5 Years of Age in LIFT Cohort

Marine Robert de Saint Vincent  1   2 , Valérie Rouger  2   3 , Jean Christophe Rozé  1   2   3 , Cyril Flamant  1   2   3 , Jean-Baptiste Muller  1   2
Affiliations

Assessing Behavioral Disorders with SDQ in Very Preterm Children at 5 Years of Age in LIFT Cohort

Marine Robert de Saint Vincent et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Preterm-born children are at risk of behavioral disorders and the systematic assessment of these disorders remains a challenge. Questions remain about the accuracy of self-reported parent questionnaires and the real everyday life behavior of the child.

Aim: To evaluate the association between SDQ reported by parents in the preterm and behavioral difficulties in the everyday school life environment reported by teacher.

Methods: All children born before 33 weeks and who followed-up in the LIFT (Loire Infant Follow-up team) network were included. The Strengths and Difficulties Parental Questionnaire (SDQ), completed at 5 years, was used to check for behavioral difficulties and identified three groups: "normal", "borderline" and "abnormal". Then, the SDQ results were compared to the Global School Adaptation Score (GSA) at 5 years.

Results: Out of the 1825 children followed in the cohort at the age of 5, 1397 questionnaires were analyzed. A total of 11.1% of children had an abnormal score, and 9.7% had a borderline score. Male gender and a lower birth weight z-score were significantly associated with the "abnormal SDQ" group. There is a significant relationship between the probability of being in the "abnormal SDQ" group at 5 years and with difficulty in global school adaptation at 5 years, as well as an SDQ borderline score in the preterm (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: SDQ abnormal and borderline scores are associated with behavioral difficulties in the classroom and everyday life behavior. In preterm children, one should be alerted even by a borderline SDQ score.

Keywords: SDQ; behavior; functional development outcome; preterm.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
GSA score according to SDQ classification and sex.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pierrat V., Marchand-Martin L., Marret S., Arnaud C., Benhammou V., Cambonie G., Debillon T., Dufourg M.-N., Gire C., Goffinet F., et al. Neurodevelopmental outcomes at age 5 among children born preterm: EPIPAGE-2 cohort study. BMJ. 2021;373:n741. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n741. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Luu T.M., Mian M.O.R., Nuyt A.M. Long-Term Impact of Preterm Birth. Clin. Perinatol. 2017;44:305–314. doi: 10.1016/j.clp.2017.01.003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Larroque B., Ancel P.-Y., Marret S., Marchand L., Roze J.C., Kaminski M. Neurodevelopmental disabilities and special care of 5-year-old children born before 33 weeks of gestation (the EPIPAGE study): A longitudinal cohort stydy. Lancet. 2008;371:813–820. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60380-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Franz A.P., Bolat G.U., Bolat H., Matijasevich A., Santos I.S., Silveira R.C., Procianoy R.S., Rohde L.A., Moreira-Maia C.R. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Very Preterm/Very Low Birth Weight: A Meta-analysis. Pediatrics. 2018;141:e20171645. doi: 10.1542/peds.2017-1645. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Linsell L., Johnson S., Wolke D., Morris J., Kurinczuk J.J., Marlow N. Trajectories of behavior, attention, social and emotional problems from childhood to early adulthood following extremely preterm birth: A prospective cohort study. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry. 2019;28:531–542. doi: 10.1007/s00787-018-1219-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources