Neurodevelopmental Outcome of Preterm Infants at Childhood: Cognition and Language

Abstract

With the recent advancement of antenatal intensive care and facilities for neonatal inten-sive care, the survival rate of preterm infants including extremely low birth weight infants has been significantly improved. Despite without structural disruption of the brain, the al-tered brain development might drive preterm infants to be prone to every neurodevelop-mental disorder including cerebral palsy, cognitive impairment, language delays, behav-ioral disorders, and executive function deficit in school age. Many studies reported that preterm children had long-term inferiority among peers in the area of cognitive and aca-demic performance. Follow-up studies of neurodevelopmental outcome in children born prematurely deserve clinical attention, not only to decrease morbidity related prematurity but also to achieve high quality of life of preterm infants. Recent studies have been focused on the cognitive and language outcome of preterm infants. The aim of this article was to clarify the impact and consequences of preterm birth and⁄or very low birthweight without major disabilities on brain development throughout childhood, focusing on cognition and language function.