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Interaction of Impulsivity, Attention, and Intelligence in Early Adolescents Born Preterm without Sequelae.

ABSTRACT: There is insufficient evidence on the intellectual and attentional profile of adolescents born prematurely. to identify maladjustment in intellectual and attention skills at the beginning of secondary school. 69 premature 12-year-old adolescents were evaluated with the WISC, d2 Test of Attention, and Test of Perception of Differences-Revised (CARAS-R). adolescents present intellectual and attention abilities in the normal range. However, all premature adolescents show difficulties in impulse control and female adolescents are better in processing speed. Depending on the category of prematurity, differences in attention skills are evident. adolescents born prematurely without associated sequelae have significantly lower performance in the same areas than the normative group. This could affect the cognitive control of their behavior and academic performance in the medium and long term. Great prematurity could interfere with attention skills and self-control even at the age of 12, especially in males.

SUBMITTER: Galan-Megias R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8431711 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Interaction of Impulsivity, Attention, and Intelligence in Early Adolescents Born Preterm without Sequelae.

Galán-Megías Rocío R Lanzarote-Fernández María Dolores MD Casanovas-Lax Javier J Padilla-Muñoz Eva María EM

International journal of environmental research and public health 20210827 17

There is insufficient evidence on the intellectual and attentional profile of adolescents born prematurely.<h4>Aim</h4>to identify maladjustment in intellectual and attention skills at the beginning of secondary school.<h4>Method</h4>69 premature 12-year-old adolescents were evaluated with the WISC, d2 Test of Attention, and Test of Perception of Differences-Revised (CARAS-R).<h4>Results</h4>adolescents present intellectual and attention abilities in the normal range. However, all premature adol ...[more]

PMID: 34501631

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Project description:Although language difficulties are common in children born prematurely, robust neuroanatomical correlates of these impairments remain to be established. This study investigated whether the greater prevalence of language problems in preterm (versus term-born) children might reflect injury to major intra- or interhemispheric white matter pathways connecting frontal and temporal language regions. To investigate this, we performed a comprehensive assessment of language and academic abilities in a group of adolescents born prematurely, some of whom had evidence of brain injury at birth (n = 50, mean age: 16 years, mean gestational age: 27 weeks) and compared them to a term-born control group (n = 30). Detailed structural magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion-tractography analyses of intrahemispheric and interhemispheric white matter bundles were performed. Analysis of intrahemispheric pathways included the arcuate fasciculus (dorsal language pathway) and uncinate fasciculus/extreme capsule (ventral language pathway). Analysis of interhemispheric pathways (in particular, connections between the temporal lobes) included the two major commissural bundles: the corpus callosum and anterior commissure. We found language impairment in 38% of adolescents born preterm. Language impairment was not related to abnormalities of the arcuate fasciculus (or its subsegments), but was associated with bilateral volume reductions in the ventral language pathway. However, the most significant volume reduction was detected in the posterior corpus callosum (splenium), which contains interhemispheric connections between the occipital, parietal and temporal lobes. Diffusion tractography showed that of the three groups of interhemispheric fibres within the splenium, only those connecting the temporal lobes were reduced. Crucially, we found that language impairment was only detectable if the anterior commissure (a second temporal lobe commissural pathway) was also small. Regression analyses showed that a combination of anatomical measures of temporal interhemispheric connectivity (through the splenium of the corpus callosum and anterior commissure) explained 57% of the variance in language abilities. This supports recent theories emphasizing the importance of interhemispheric connections for language, particularly in the developing brain.

Project description:Main objectivesExecutive functions are frequently a weakness in children born preterm. We examined associations of executive functions and general cognitive abilities with brain structure in preterm born adolescents who were born with appropriate weight for gestational age and who have no radiological signs of preterm brain injury on neuroimaging.MethodsThe Stockholm Neonatal Project (SNP) is a longitudinal, population-based study of children born preterm (<36 weeks of gestation) with very low birth weight (<1501g) between 1988-1993. At age 18 years (mean 18 years, SD 2 weeks) 134 preterm born and 94 full term participants underwent psychological assessment (general intelligence, executive function measures). Of these, 71 preterm and 63 full term participants underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at mean 15.2 years (range 12-18 years), including 3D T1-weighted images for volumetric analyses and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) for assessment of white matter microstructure. Group comparisons of regional grey and white matter volumes and fractional anisotropy (FA, as a measure of white matter microstructure) and, within each group, correlation analyses of cognitive measures with MRI metrics were carried out.ResultsSignificant differences in grey and white matter regional volumes and widespread differences in FA were seen between the two groups. No significant correlations were found between cognitive measures and brain volumes in any group after correction for multiple comparisons. However, there were significant correlations between FA in projection fibres and long association fibres, linking frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, and measures of executive function and general cognitive abilities in the preterm born adolescents, but not in the term born adolescents.Overall significance of the studyIn persons born preterm, in the absence of perinatal brain injury on visual inspection of MRI, widespread alterations in regional brain tissue volumes and microstructure are present in adolescence/young adulthood. Importantly, these alterations in WM tracts are correlated with measures of executive function and general cognitive abilities. Our findings suggest that disturbance of neural pathways, rather than changes in regional brain volumes, are involved in the impaired cognitive functions.

Dataset Information

Interaction of Impulsivity, Attention, and Intelligence in Early Adolescents Born Preterm without Sequelae.

Publications

Interaction of Impulsivity, Attention, and Intelligence in Early Adolescents Born Preterm without Sequelae.

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