Horwood L J, Mogridge N, Darlow B A
Christchurch Health and Development Study, Christchurch School of Medicine, New Zealand.
Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 1998 Jul;79(1):F12-20. doi: 10.1136/fn.79.1.f12.
To examine cognitive, behavioural, and educational outcomes in middle childhood among a birth cohort of very low birthweight children.
Two hundred and ninety eight survivors from a national birth cohort of 413 New Zealand very low birthweight (VLBW) children born in 1986 were assessed at 7 to 8 years of age on measures of behaviour, cognitive ability, school performance and the need for special education. These outcomes were compared with the same measures in a general population sample of over 1000 children studied at a similar age.
The VLBW children had significantly higher rates of problems and poorer levels of functioning across all outcome measures than the general child sample. These differences persisted even after control for variability in social, family, and other characteristics of the two samples and for the degree of sensorineural disability. There was evidence of a gradient of risk with birthweight, with extremely low birthweight children having generally higher rates of problems and difficulties than other VLBW children after covariate control.
The findings are consistent with a growing body of research evidence which suggests that premature and VLBW infants are at increased risk of longer term morbidity and functional impairment in middle childhood.
研究极低出生体重儿童出生队列在童年中期的认知、行为和教育成果。
从1986年出生的413名新西兰极低出生体重（VLBW）儿童的全国出生队列中选取298名幸存者，在他们7至8岁时对其行为、认知能力、学业表现以及特殊教育需求进行评估。将这些成果与1000多名同龄儿童的一般人群样本中的相同指标进行比较。
与一般儿童样本相比，VLBW儿童在所有成果指标上的问题发生率显著更高，功能水平更低。即使在控制了两个样本的社会、家庭和其他特征的变异性以及感觉神经性残疾程度之后，这些差异仍然存在。有证据表明存在出生体重风险梯度，在控制协变量后，极低出生体重儿童的问题和困难发生率通常高于其他VLBW儿童。
这些发现与越来越多的研究证据一致，表明早产和VLBW婴儿在童年中期患长期疾病和功能障碍的风险增加。
