Online psychosocial group intervention for adolescents with a chronic illness: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of , a protocolled online psychosocial group intervention for adolescents with a chronic illness (CI).

Methods: Adolescents (12-18 years) with different types of CI ( = 59; Mean age = 15.1 years, SD = 1.

Growing up with Down syndrome: Development from 6 months to 10.7 years.

Background: We analysed developmental outcomes from a clinical trial early in life and its follow-up at 10.7 years in 123 children with Down syndrome.

Aims: To determine 1) strengths and weaknesses in adaptive functioning and motor skills at 10.

Attention in 3-Year-Old Children with VLBW and Relationships with Early School Outcomes.

Aim: To compare attention skills of children with a very low birth weight (VLBW) with children with a normal birth weight (NBW) when entering primary school, and explore the association of attention skills with school career 2 years later.

Methods: Participants were 151 children with VLBW and 41 with NBW. Attention was assessed at 3 years and 8 months of corrected age (CA) and school career at 5½ years of CA.

Effects of early thyroxine treatment on development and growth at age 10.7 years: follow-up of a randomized placebo-controlled trial in children with Down's syndrome.

Context: In 2-year-old children with Down's syndrome (DS), early T4 treatment was found to result in slightly better motor development and growth.

Objectives: This study sought to determine long-term effects of early T4 treatment on development and growth in children with DS with either an elevated or normal neonatal TSH concentration.

Design: Patients received a single follow-up visit 8.

Parental perceptions of child vulnerability in a community-based sample: Association with chronic illness and health-related quality of life.

The study aimed to assess the prevalence of parental perceptions of a child's vulnerability (PPCV) in a Dutch community-based sample and its relationship with children's health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Parents completed the Child Vulnerability Scale and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.

Development and validation of the distress thermometer for parents of a chronically ill child.

Objective: To develop and validate a Distress Thermometer for Parents (DT-P) for chronically ill children and to determine a cutoff score for clinical distress.

Study Design: Parents of a chronically ill child (0-18 years) were recruited via announcements or were actively approached at the outpatient clinics of the Emma Children's Hospital/Academic Medical Center and Vrije Universiteit Medical Center. We modeled the development of the DT-P on the Distress Thermometer used in oncology medical care.

Perinatal risk factors for neurocognitive impairments in preschool children born very preterm.

Aim: This study aimed to compare a broad array of neurocognitive functions (processing speed, aspects of attention, executive functioning, visual-motor coordination, and both face and emotion recognition) in very preterm and term-born children and to identify perinatal risk factors for neurocognitive dysfunctions.

Method: Children who were born very preterm (n=102; 46 males, 56 females), defined as a gestational age of less than 30 weeks and/or birthweight under 1000 g, and a comparison group of term-born children (n=95; 40 males, 55 females) were assessed at age 5 with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Stop Signal Task, several tasks of the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks, and a Digit Span task.

Results: When sociodemographic characteristics were taken into account, very preterm children scored worse than term-born children on all neurocognitive functions, except on tasks measuring inhibition and sustained attention, for which results were inconclusive.

Difference in mother-child interaction between preterm- and term-born preschoolers with and without disabilities.

Aim: To investigate differences in the quality of mother-child interaction between preterm- and term-born children at age 5, and to study the association of mother-child interaction with sociodemographic characteristics and child disability.

Methods: Preterm children (n = 94), born at <30 weeks' gestation and/or birth weight <1000 g, and term children (n = 84) were assessed at corrected age of 5 using a mother-child interaction observation. Disabilities were assessed using an intelligence test, behaviour questionnaires for parents and teachers, and motor and neurological examinations.

The infant behavioral assessment and intervention program in very low birth weight infants; outcome on executive functioning, behaviour and cognition at preschool age.

Background: The Infant Behavioral Assessment and Intervention Program (IBAIP©) improved motor function at 24 months, and mental and behavioural development in high risk subgroups of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Aim: To determine IBAIP's effects on executive functioning, behaviour and cognition at preschool age.

Study Design: Follow-up of a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Prediction of cognitive abilities at the age of 5 years using developmental follow-up assessments at the age of 2 and 3 years in very preterm children.

Aim: This study investigated prediction of separate cognitive abilities at the age of 5 years by cognitive development at the ages of both 2 and 3 years, and the agreement between these measurements, in very preterm children.

Methods: Preterm children (n=102; 44 males; 58 females) with a gestational age less than 30 weeks and/or birthweight less than 1000g were assessed at the ages of 2 and 3 years using the second edition of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Child Behaviour Checklist, and a neurological examination, and at the age of 5 years using the third edition of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.

Results: Cognitive development at ages 2 and 3 years explained 44% and 57% respectively of full-scale intelligence at the age of 5 years.

Infant behavioral assessment and intervention program in very low birth weight infants improves independency in mobility at preschool age.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of the Infant Behavioral Assessment and Intervention Program(©) (IBAIP) in very low birth weight infants on sensory processing and daily activities at preschool age.

Study Design: Follow-up of children included in a randomized controlled trial. Eighty-six infants were enrolled in post-discharge IBAIP until 6 months corrected age, and 90 infants received standard care.

Mental, psychomotor, neurologic, and behavioral outcomes of 2-year-old children born after preimplantation genetic screening: follow-up of a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children.

Design: Prospective, assessor-blinded, follow-up study of children born to women randomly assigned to in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) with or without PGS.

Setting: University Medical Center, Groningen, and Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Outcome at 4.5 years of children born after expectant management of early-onset hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Objective: The objective of the study was to describe neurodevelopmental outcome at the age of 4.5 years in 216 children, born after expectant management of severe early-onset hypertensive complications of pregnancy.

Study Design: This was a prospective follow-up study until age 4.

High incidence of multi-domain disabilities in very preterm children at five years of age.

Objectives: To describe the prevalence and co-occurrence of disabilities and their association with parental education in preterm children and term control subjects.

Study Design: In a prospective study, preterm children (n=104), born at <30 weeks' gestation or birth weight <1000 g, and term children (n=95) were assessed at corrected age 5 with an intelligence quotient (IQ) test, behavior questionnaires for parents and teachers, and motor and neurologic tests. A disability was defined as results in the mild abnormal range of each test or below.

Improvement of developmental outcome between 24 and 36 months corrected age in very preterm infants.

Aim:  To study early developmental course in preschool-aged very preterm infants and its association with perinatal risk factors and test-taking behaviour.

Methods:   Children born <30 weeks gestation and/or <1000g in the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam were assessed at 24 and 36 months corrected age with the Dutch Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (BSID-II-NL) and neurological examination. Linear regression analyses for developmental change were performed with perinatal risk factors.

Behavioural problems at the age of eleven years in preterm-born children with or without fetal brain sparing: a prospective cohort study.

Background: In severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) due to placental insufficiency a haemodynamic adaptation occurs, resulting in preferential blood flow to the fetal brain (brain sparing). With Doppler ultrasound an increased ratio between the umbilical and the cerebral artery pulsatility index (U/C ratio) can be demonstrated. IUGR is associated with impaired neurodevelopmental outcome.

The effect of the Infant Behavioral Assessment and Intervention Program on mother-infant interaction after very preterm birth.

Background: Prematurity and perinatal insults lead to increased developmental vulnerability. The home-based Infant Behavioral Assessment and Intervention Program (IBAIP) was designed to improve development of preterm infants. In a multicenter randomized controlled trial the effect of IBAIP on mother-infant interaction was studied as a secondary outcome.

A neurobehavioral intervention and assessment program in very low birth weight infants: outcome at 24 months.

Objective: To determine whether the Infant Behavioral Assessment and Intervention Program (IBAIP) improves development and behavior in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants at 24-month corrected age.

Study Design: In a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial 86 infants received postdischarge intervention until 6-month corrected age. The intervention consisted of supporting infants' self-regulation and development, and facilitating sensitive parent-infant interactions; 90 control infants received regular care.

Ten-year follow-up of children born at <30 weeks' gestational age supplemented with thyroxine in the neonatal period in a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Thyroid hormones are essential for brain development. We conducted a randomized, controlled trial with thyroxine (T4) supplementation in infants <30 weeks' gestation and with the last neurodevelopmental follow-up moment at the age of 5.5 years.

Coping and family functioning predict longitudinal psychological adaptation of siblings of childhood cancer patients.

Objective: To assess associations of coping and family functioning with psychosocial adjustment in siblings of pediatric cancer patients at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months after diagnosis.

Methods: Eighty-three siblings (ages 7-19 years) participated. Effects on anxiety, quality of life, behavioral-emotional problems, and emotional reactions to the illness were investigated.