Early-life growth of preterm infants and its impact on neurodevelopment

Background Increasing numbers of preterm-born children survive nowadays, and improving long-term health and neurodevelopment is becoming more important. Early-life growth has been linked to neurodevelopmental outcomes. We aimed to study whether this association has changed with time. Methods We studied two cohorts of preterm-born children (gestational age ≤32 weeks and/or birth weight ≤1500 g) from 1983 ( n = 708) and 2003–2006 ( n = 138), respectively. We distinguished four early-life growth patterns at 3 months corrected age: appropriate for gestational age (AGA) with or without growth restriction (AGA GR+/AGA GR−), and small for gestational age (SGA) with or without catch-up growth (SGA CUG+/SGA CUG−). Intelligence quotient (IQ), neuromotor function, and behavior were assessed at ages 19 and 8 years, respectively, for the cohorts. Results In the 2003–2006 cohort, less children had early-life GR. In both cohorts, SGA CUG− subjects had unfavorable growth trajectories and neurodevelopmental outcomes (IQ β −6.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) −9.8; −3.2, P