Temporal Trends in Neurodevelopmental Outcomes to 2 Years After Extremely Preterm Birth.

Importance: Survival of infants born extremely preterm (EP) (<28 weeks' gestation) has increased since the early 1990s. It is necessary to know whether increased survival is accompanied by increased neurodevelopmental disability.

Objective: To examine changes in major (ie, moderate or severe) neurodevelopmental disability and survival free of major neurodevelopmental disability at 2 years in infants born EP.

Changes over time in quality of life of school-aged children born extremely preterm: 1991-2005.

Objective: To compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) at 8 years in children born extremely preterm (EP) with contemporaneous term-born controls over three epochs: 1991-92, 1997 and 2005.

Design: Prospective recruitment of geographic cohorts across three distinct eras. Utilities were calculated from the parent-completed Health Utilities Index (HUI), version 2 (1991-92 and 1997 cohorts) and version 3 (2005 cohort).

Severe childhood speech disorder: Gene discovery highlights transcriptional dysregulation.

Objective: Determining the genetic basis of speech disorders provides insight into the neurobiology of human communication. Despite intensive investigation over the past 2 decades, the etiology of most speech disorders in children remains unexplained. To test the hypothesis that speech disorders have a genetic etiology, we performed genetic analysis of children with severe speech disorder, specifically childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).

Changing Neurodevelopment at 8 Years in Children Born Extremely Preterm Since the 1990s.

Background And Objective: Survival of extremely preterm (EP; <28 weeks' gestation) infants has increased over the last 2 decades. Equivalent reductions in developmental morbidity in early childhood have not been consistently reported. The aim of this study was to determine trends in neurodevelopmental outcomes at 8 years of age of children born EP (22-27 completed weeks' gestation) over the past 2 decades.

Increasing airway obstruction from 8 to 18 years in extremely preterm/low-birthweight survivors born in the surfactant era.

Background: The evolution of airway obstruction into late adolescence of extremely preterm (gestational age <28 weeks) or extremely low-birthweight (birth weight <1000 g) survivors in the era after surfactant was introduced is unclear.

Objective: To compare changes in spirometry from 8 to 18 years of age of a geographical cohort of preterm survivors with normal birth weight controls, and to determine higher risk groups within the preterm cohort.

Methods: Of 297 extremely preterm/low-birthweight survivors born in 1991-1992 in the state of Victoria, Australia, 81% and 70% had spirometry at 8 and 18 years of age, respectively.

The cost of long-term follow-up of high-risk infants for research studies.

Aims: Neonatal intensive care is expensive, and thus it is essential that its long-term outcomes are measured. The costs of follow-up studies for high-risk children who survive are unknown. This study aims to determine current costs for the assessment of health and development of children followed up in our research programme.

Growth of extremely preterm survivors from birth to 18 years of age compared with term controls.

Objectives: To determine changes in height, weight, and BMI of extremely preterm (EPT; gestational age <28 completed weeks) survivors from birth to 18 years of age, compared with term controls.

Methods: Birth, discharge, and follow-up at ages 2, 5, 8, and 18 years of consecutive EPT survivors and contemporaneous term controls born in 1991-1992 in Victoria, Australia. Weight, height, and BMI were converted to z scores and compared between groups.

Developmental coordination disorder in geographic cohorts of 8-year-old children born extremely preterm or extremely low birthweight in the 1990s.

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) at the age of 8 years in a geographic cohort of extremely preterm or extremely-low-birthweight (EP/ELBW) children and a term-born comparison group, as well as associated academic outcomes, parents' perceptions of motor performance, and changes in prevalence during the 1990s.

Method: Moderate DCD was defined as a score below the 5th centile on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children in children without cerebral palsy or intellectual impairment. DCD rates were compared in a group of 132 8-year-old children born in 1997 at 22 to 27 weeks' gestation or birthweight of less than 1000 g (49% male, 51% female) and a comparison group of 154 term-born children (55% male, 45% female).

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia in very low birth weight subjects and lung function in late adolescence.

Objectives: The purpose of this work was to determine the relationship between lung function in late adolescence and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, to establish whether lung function changed more from earlier in childhood in those with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and to assess the effect of different definitions of bronchopulmonary dysplasia on respiratory outcome.

Methods: Subjects were composed of 147 survivors of birth weight <1500 g from the Royal Women's Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) born during 1977-1982 and who had lung function tests at a mean age of 18.9 years.

Health and hospitalistions after discharge in extremely low birth weight infants.

Apart from higher rates of mortality and adverse neurosensory outcome, extremely low birth weight (ELBW, birth weight 500-999 g) children have more hospital readmissions and other health problems in the early years after discharge than do normal birth weight (NBW, birth weight >2499 g) children. Respiratory illnesses, including lower respiratory infections, are the dominant cause for hospital readmission. ELBW survivors with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) have even more ill-health and hospital readmissions than do ELBW survivors without BPD.