Social-emotional delays at 2 years in extremely low gestational age survivors: correlates of impaired orientation/engagement and emotional regulation.

Background: Premature infants are less socially and emotionally competent at school age than infants born at term.

Aims: To evaluate the correlates of social and emotional delays at 2 years of age among prematurely born children.

Study Design: This is a prospective cohort study.

Long-term follow-up of 2 newborns with a combined birth weight of 540 grams.

Long-term growth and developmental data are presented for the smallest and third smallest surviving newborns in the world literature to 5 and 20 years of age, respectively. Both patients exhibited normal motor and language development. Although head circumference for both newborns demonstrated catchup growth, significant differences in height and weight growth velocities persisted.