Antenatal and neonatal risk factors in very preterm children were associated with language difficulties at 9 years of age.

Aim: This Finnish study compared language and reading abilities between schoolchildren born at a very low gestational age (VLGA) of <32 weeks and at term and analysed any associations between antenatal and neonatal risk factors and language skills in the VLGA group.

Methods: We prospectively followed 76 children born at a VLGA and 50 children born at term when they reached a mean age of 9.0 (8.

Microstructural alterations in association tracts and language abilities in schoolchildren born very preterm and with poor fetal growth.

Background: Prematurity and perinatal risk factors may influence white matter microstructure. In turn, these maturational changes may influence language development in this high-risk population of children.

Objective: To evaluate differences in the microstructure of association tracts between preterm and term children and between preterm children with appropriate growth and those with fetal growth restriction and to study whether the diffusion tensor metrics of these tracts correlate with language abilities in schoolchildren with no severe neurological impairment.