Resilience and Vulnerability: Neurodevelopment of Very Preterm Children at Four Years of Age.

ABSTRACT: Children born very preterm (VPT) are at high-risk for altered brain development and impaired neurodevelopmental outcomes but are not well-studied before school-age. We investigated 64 four-year-olds: 37 VPT children [<32 weeks gestational age [GA]; 22 males; mean GA: 28.8 weeks ± 1.6], 25 full-term (FT) children (12 males), plus two VPT cases with ventriculomegaly and exceptionally resilient outcomes. All children underwent high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging and developmental assessments. Measures of brain volume, cortical thickness, and surface area were obtained. Children born VPT demonstrated reduced cerebral and cerebellar white matter volumes yet increased cerebral gray matter, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and ventricle volumes after adjusting for total brain volum

SUBMITTER: Young JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7372104 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature