Publications by authors named "J Harold Helderman"
Trajectories of attention problems in preschoolers born very preterm.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry
November 2024
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates attention problems in children born preterm (<30 weeks gestation) from ages 2 to 5, analyzing factors that influence these attention trajectories and their relationship to ADHD diagnoses.
- - Using data from 608 infants in a large prospective study, researchers found that while most children displayed low initial attention problems, there were notable individual differences in symptom progression over time.
- - The findings indicate that children with higher initial attention issues and faster increases in symptoms are at a greater risk for an ADHD diagnosis, highlighting the need for tailored interventions based on individual characteristics.
Article Synopsis
- * A study analyzed DNA methylation patterns in buccal cells from VPT infants to see how their gestational age (GA) and age since conception (post-menstrual age, PMA) affect their development.
- * Researchers found thousands of DNA sites linked to GA and PMA, with pathways related to brain development and growth significantly affected, indicating that early life epigenetic changes are vital for neurodevelopment in preterm infants.
Importance: Preeclampsia has direct influences on a developing fetus and may impact postnatal health, and fetal growth restriction (FGR) is often seen co-occurring with preeclampsia. The development of children born very preterm after preeclampsia diagnosis with and without FGR is not well characterized.
Objective: To examine the associations of preeclampsia and FGR with developmental and/or behavioral outcomes in a cohort of very preterm infants.
Objective: Understand how high-risk infants' development changes over time. Examine whether NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) profiles are associated with decrements in developmental outcomes between ages 2 and 3 years in infants born very preterm.
Study Design: The Neonatal Outcomes for Very preterm Infants (NOVI) cohort is a multisite prospective study of 704 preterm infants born <30 weeks' gestation across nine university and VON affiliated NICUs.
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluated the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) to determine its accuracy as a screening tool for autism in a large sample of nearly 3,400 children from the ECHO program, particularly focusing on both term and preterm children.
- Results indicated that while the M-CHAT showed high specificity (88-99%), its sensitivity was relatively low (36-60%), suggesting it is better at identifying low-risk children rather than accurately diagnosing those at higher risk for autism.
- Overall, the findings support the use of M-CHAT as a valuable tool for identifying developmental delays and behavioral concerns in children, even though it has limitations in detecting all cases of autism risk effectively.