Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Acta Paediatr. 2013 Sep;102(9):896-900. doi: 10.1111/apa.12310. Epub 2013 Jun 19.
The aim of this study was to better understand the impact of non-English language spoken in the home on measures of cognition, language and behaviour in toddlers born extremely preterm.
Eight hundred and fifty children born at <28 weeks of gestational ages were studied. 427 male and 423 female participants from three racial/ethnic groups (White, Black and Hispanic) were evaluated at 18-22 months adjusted for age using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development third edition and the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA). Children whose primary language was Spanish (n = 98) were compared with children whose primary language was English (n = 752), using multivariable regression adjusted for medical and psychosocial factors.
Cognitive scores were similar between groups; however, receptive, expressive and composite language scores were lower for children whose primary language was Spanish. These differences remained significant after adjustment for medical and socio-economic factors. Spanish-speaking children scored worse on the BITSEA competence and problem scores using univariate analysis, but not after adjustment for medical and socio-economic factors.
Our finding that preterm children whose primary language was Spanish had similar cognitive but lower language scores than those whose primary language was English suggests that using English language-based testing tools may introduce bias against non-English-speaking children born preterm.
本研究旨在更好地了解家庭中使用非英语语言对极低出生体重早产儿认知、语言和行为测量的影响。
研究纳入了 850 名孕龄<28 周的儿童。来自三个种族/族裔群体（白种人、黑人和西班牙裔）的 427 名男性和 423 名女性参与者在 18-22 个月时进行了评估，使用贝利婴幼儿发展量表第三版和婴幼儿社交情绪评估量表（BITSEA）进行了调整。将主要语言为西班牙语的 98 名儿童与主要语言为英语的 752 名儿童进行比较，采用多变量回归分析调整了医疗和社会心理因素。
两组儿童的认知评分相似；然而，主要语言为西班牙语的儿童的接受性、表达性和综合语言评分较低。在调整了医疗和社会经济因素后，这些差异仍然显著。使用单变量分析，西班牙语儿童在 BITSEA 能力和问题评分上的得分较差，但在调整了医疗和社会经济因素后，差异并不显著。
我们发现，主要语言为西班牙语的早产儿的认知评分与主要语言为英语的早产儿相似，但语言评分较低，这表明使用基于英语的测试工具可能会对出生前讲英语的非英语儿童产生偏见。
