Adaptive Behavioral, Social-Emotional, and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 2 Years of Age in Hungarian Preterm Infants Based on Bayley III.

Aim:  This study aimed to assess cognitive, language, and motor development as well as social-emotional and adaptive behavior skills of low birthweight (LBW) children.

Methods: Our cohort contained 305 two-year-old LBW children. Developmental functioning was assessed by the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3 Edition.

Results: Performance in language, particularly in expressive communication was the poorest. Extremely low birthweight (ELBW) children were found to be at increased risk of developmental delay: 12.73 times in motor (95%CI = 2.8-57.5), 9.81 times in cognitive (95%CI = 3.2-29.6) and 3.91 times in language (95%CI = 1.6-9.4), and social-emotional skills (95%CI = 1.6-9.5). Parents of children with lower birthweight reported poorer social and practical adaptive skills. Self-care domain seemed to be the least developed.

Conclusion: Additionally, the screening for developmental delays, monitoring the adaptive behavior skills may also be useful - especially among ELBW children - in order to identify the specific areas, situations, and functions that are most in need of interventions.

Abbreviations: AB: Adaptive Behavior; ABAS-II: Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-II; BPD: Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia; BSID-III: Bayley Scales of Infant Development 3 Edition; BW: Birthweight; CI: Confidence Interval; CS: Composite Score; ELBW: Extremely Low Birthweight; GA: Gestational Age; IVF: In Vitro Fertilization; IVH: Intraventricular Hemorrhage; LBW: Low Birthweight; NEC: Necrotizing Enterocolitis; OR: Odds Ratio; ROP: Retinopathy of Prematurity; SE: Social-Emotional Development; VLBW: Very Low Birthweight.