scholarly journals Risk for ASD in Preterm Infants: A Three-Year Follow-Up Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayelet Harel-Gadassi ◽  
Edwa Friedlander ◽  
Maya Yaari ◽  
Benjamin Bar-Oz ◽  
Smadar Eventov-Friedman ◽  
...  

Background. The aim of this study was to examine the long-term risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in individuals who are born preterm and full-term using both observational instruments and parental reports. Neonatal risk factors and developmental characteristics associated with ASD risk were also examined. Method. Participants included 110 preterm children (born at a gestational age of ≤ 34 weeks) and 39 full-term children assessed at ages 18, 24, and 36 months. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised, the Social Communication Questionnaire, and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning were administered. Results and Conclusions. The long-term risk for ASD was higher when parental reports were employed compared to observational instruments. At 18 and 24 months, a higher long-term risk for ASD was found for preterm children compared to full-term children. At 36 months, only one preterm child and one full-term child met the cutoff for ASD based on the ADOS, yet clinical judgment and parental reports supported an ASD diagnosis for the preterm child only. Earlier gestational age and lower general developmental abilities were associated with elevated ASD risk among preterm children.

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Miguel Pérez-Pereira

Language delay (LD) and its relationship with later language impairment in preterm children is a topic of major concern. Previous studies comparing LD in preterm (PT) and full-term (FT) children were mainly carried out with samples of extremely preterm and very preterm children (sometimes with additional medical problems). Very few of them were longitudinal studies, which is essential to understand developmental relationships between LD and later language impairment. In this study, we compare the prevalence of LD in low-risk preterm children to that of FT children in a longitudinal design ranging from 10 to 60 months of age. We also analyze which variables are related to a higher risk of LD at 22, 30 and 60 months of age. Different language tests were administered to three groups of preterm children of different gestational ages and to one group of full-term children from the ages of 10 to 60 months. ANOVA comparisons between groups and logistic regression analyses to identify possible predictors of language delay at 22, 30 and 60 months of age were performed. The results found indicate that there were practically no differences between gestational age groups. Healthy PT children, therefore, do not have, in general terms, a higher risk of language delay than FT children. Previous language delay and cognitive delay are the strongest and longest-lasting predictors of later language impairment. Other factors, such as a scarce use of gestures at 10 months or male gender, affect early LD at 22 months of age, although their effect disappears as children grow older. Low maternal education appears to have a late effect. Gestational age does not have any significant effect on the appearance of LD.


2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill C Heathcock ◽  
Anjana N Bhat ◽  
Michele A Lobo ◽  
James (Cole) Galloway

Abstract Background and Purpose. Infants born preterm differ in their spontaneous kicking, as well as their learning and memory abilities in the mobile paradigm, compared with infants born full-term. In the mobile paradigm, a supine infant's ankle is tethered to a mobile so that leg kicks cause a proportional amount of mobile movement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative kicking frequency of the tethered (right) and nontethered (left) legs in these 2 groups of infants. Subjects. Ten infants born full-term and 10 infants born preterm (<33 weeks gestational age, <2,500 g) and 10 comparison infants participated in the study. Methods. The relative kicking frequencies of the tethered and nontethered legs were analyzed during learning and short-term and long-term memory periods of the mobile paradigm. Results. Infants born full-term showed an increase in the relative kicking frequency of the tethered leg during the learning period and the short-term memory period but not for the long-term memory period. Infants born preterm did not show a change in kicking pattern for learning or memory periods, and consistently kicked both legs in relatively equal amounts. Discussion and Conclusion. Infants born full-term adapted their baseline kicking frequencies in a task-specific manner to move the mobile and then retained this adaptation for the short-term memory period. In contrast, infants born preterm showed no adaptation, suggesting a lack of purposeful leg control. This lack of control may reflect a general decrease in the ability of infants born preterm to use their limb movements to interact with their environment. As such, the mobile paradigm may be clinically useful in the early assessment and intervention of infants born preterm and at risk for future impairment.


1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Grigoroiu-Serbanescu

The work was designed to the study of 317 preterm and 78 full-term children followed up from birth to age 5 years. Emotional and intellectual deficits were found in prematures, especially in boys with gestational age under 29 weeks up to the age of 3 years. Unlike full terms, the prematures showed a marked tendency toward multiple deficits (simultaneous impairment of at least two developmental directions as represented by intelligence, emotional maturity, language and motricity). The recovery period depended on degree of prematurity to age 3; after three years, no manifest effect of prematurity on development could be seen. The risk of persistent subnormality was not linked to prematurity degree. The long-term prognosis for emotional and intellectual development was more certain in preterm girls and in boys with gestational age under 29 weeks than in other prematures.


2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. PIZZO ◽  
S. URBEN ◽  
M. VAN DER LINDEN ◽  
C. BORRADORI-TOLSA ◽  
M. FRESCHI ◽  
...  

AbstractRecent studies have reported specific executive and attentional deficits in preterm children. However, the majority of this research has used multidetermined tasks to assess these abilities, and the interpretation of the results lacks an explicit theoretical backdrop to better understand the origin of the difficulties observed. In the present study, we used the Child Attention Network Task (Child ANT; Rueda et al. 2004) to assess the efficiency of the alerting, orienting and executive control networks. We compared the performance of 25 preterm children (gestational age ≤ 32 weeks) to 25 full-term children, all between 5½ and 6½ years of age. Results showed that, as compared to full-term children, preterm children were slower on all conditions of the Child ANT and had a specific deficit in executive control abilities. We also observed a significantly higher correlation between the orienting and executive control networks in the preterm group, suggesting less differentiation of these two networks in this population. (JINS, 2010, 16, 130–137.)


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Mensah ◽  
Peter Amoako-Yirenkyi ◽  
Nana K Frempong ◽  
George P Lamptey

Abstract Background: Current studies show early interventions of autism increase significant long-term positive effects, symptoms and, later skills. Currently, These interventions are based on the use of an early diagnostic test. Existing methods for diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) such as cognitive tests, Intelligence Quotient, and standardized tests like the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) are functionally limited since they rely on child development for diagnoses. The standard is that a child must be at least three(3) years to undergo these tests. Accurate diagnosis is only possible after this period, and this may contribute to delayed diagnosis with an overall effect on the health system. In this era of increasing genetic data, it is possible to infer the genetic patterns of the disorder. This study introduces a novel and rigorous approach for predicting ASDs in neonates and their subsequent severity by identifying significant genes that contribute to the disorder. Methods: We used a wavelet transform and t-test to identify the significant genes that contribute to the disease. We subsequently employed the Naive Bayes classifier in the prediction of the autistic status of the neonate. Additionally, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed to remove all the dependencies among the genes to enhance classification. Finally, we used the K-means clustering method to predict the severity level of the disease in the neonate. Results: Up to 200 differentially expressed genes were identified and used for predicting the ASD status of the child with a classification accuracy of 95.91%. Also, the results of the K-means demonstrated that the higher the mean of the cluster, the more severe the disease would be among that corresponding group. Optimizing and implementing these models in clinical settings may significantly reduce the health burden of ASDs.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Regina Morales ◽  
Concetta Polizzi ◽  
Giorgio Sulliotti ◽  
Claudia Mascolino ◽  
Giovanna Perricone

The low attention and hyperactivity are major morbidities associated with very and moderately preterm birth. The study has been aimed at investigating the likely occurrence of early precursors of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in very and moderately preterm children at preschool age. The involved children were: 25 very preterm children (M=29.4 weeks of gestational age, SD=2), with low birth weight (M=1200 g, SD=250 g); 35 moderately preterm children (M=34.6 weeks of gestational age, SD=1) with low birth weight (M=2100 g, SD=250 g); 60 healthy full-term children as the control group. Parents of children have been administered specific questionnaires to detect low attention and hyperactivity of their children at home. The data have shown the risk of precursors of ADHD, highlighting statistically significant birth-related differences in both hyperactivity/impulsivity [F(2,119)=3.5, P=0.03, η2=0.06] and inattention [F(2,119)=2.4, P=0.04, η2=0.04], where very preterm children have got higher scores in these two dimensions compared with full-term and moderately preterm children. The very preterm children have got higher scores of <em>impulsivity</em> and <em>inattention</em> than the full-term children (Tukey’HSD − Honestly Significant Difference; P&lt;0.001).


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-404
Author(s):  
Miguel Pérez-Pereira ◽  
Lua Baños

Objetivo: En este estudio, se compararán los problemas de comportamiento de los niños prematuros sanos y a término. También se estudiará el efecto de las condiciones ambientales y neonatales en la tasa de problemas de comportamiento, prestando especial atención a la depresión materna y al estrés de los padres. Estudios anteriores encontraron tasas de prevalencia significativamente mayores de problemas totales en niños prematuros. La mayoría de estos estudios se llevaron a cabo con niños prematuros menores de 32 semanas de edad gestacional. En contraste, algunos estudios realizados con niños moderadamente prematuros no encontraron diferencias significativas. Método: Evaluamos 108 niños prematuros de bajo riesgo y 33 niños de término completo a través del Child Behavior Checklist cuando tenían 5 años de edad. El estrés y la depresión de sus madres también fueron evaluados. Resultados: No se encontraron diferencias significativas entre los grupos prematuros y los de término completo en cuanto a la internalización o la externalización general de los problemas de conducta, ni a los problemas de conducta más específicos, como la ansiedad, la atención o la agresión. No se encontró ningún efecto de la edad gestacional en la tasa de problemas de conducta. En contraste, el estrés materno, pero no la depresión materna, fue un fuerte predictor de problemas de conducta. Conclusiones: Estos resultados indican que los problemas de conducta no son característicos de los niños prematuros como grupo, sino solo de los niños muy o extremadamente prematuros. Background/Objective. In this study, the behavior problems of healthy preterm and full-term children will be compared. The effect of environmental and neonatal conditions on the rate of behavior problems, with special attention to maternal depression and parental stress, will also be studied. Previous studies found significantly higher prevalence rates of total problems in preterm children. Most of these studies were carried out with preterm children under 32 weeks of gestational age. In contrast, some studies carried out with moderately preterm children found no significant difference. Method. We assessed 108 low risk preterm children and 33 full-term children through the Child Behavior Checklist when they were 5 years-old. Their mothers` stress and depression were also assessed. Results. No significant difference was found between the preterm and the full-term groups for overall, internalizing or externalizing behavior problems, or for more fine-grained behavior problems such as anxiety, attention or aggression problems. No effect of gestational age on the rate of behavior problems was found. In contrast maternal stress, but not maternal depression, was a strong predictor of behavior problems. Conclusions. These results indicate that behavior problems are not characteristic of preterm children as a group, but only of very or extremely preterm children.


2018 ◽  
pp. 184-195
Author(s):  
Minh Son Pham ◽  
Vu Quoc Huy Nguyen ◽  
Dinh Vinh Tran

Small for gestational age (SGA) and fetal growth restriction (FGR) is difficult to define exactly. In this pregnancy condition, the fetus does not reach its biological growth potential as a consequence of impaired placental function, which may be because of a variety of factors. Fetuses with FGR are at risk for perinatal morbidity and mortality, and poor long-term health outcomes, such as impaired neurological and cognitive development, and cardiovascular and endocrine diseases in adulthood. At present no gold standard for the diagnosis of SGA/FGR exists. The first aim of this review is to: summarize areas of consensus and controversy between recently published national guidelines on small for gestational age or fetal growth restriction; highlight any recent evidence that should be incorporated into existing guidelines. Another aim to summary a number of interventions which are being developed or coming through to clinical trial in an attempt to improve fetal growth in placental insufficiency. Key words: fetal growth restriction (FGR), Small for gestational age (SGA)


Author(s):  
Blaurock-Busch E

The heavy metal burden of patients with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been widely discussed [1-5]. Present knowledge suggests that ASD patients, compared to ‘normal’s’ show a greater metal burden, which may be a cause of the ASD pathogenesis, possibly due to a limited detoxification potential. We thus aimed to evaluate if the metal burden of ASD children is due to comprised detoxification ability, and if missing of enzymes such as the glutathione-S-transferases provide an explanation, or if additional factors play a role. Genetically, we noticed a slight difference in the detoxification ability of the ASD group compared to the Control group. In the ASD group, carrier of the genotype GSTT1 null genotype (i.e. the homozygous loss) are 1.7 times more common as in the Control group and the GSTT1 allele is more frequent in the ASD patient collective. These findings are not statistically significant but indicate a trend. In addition, our data indicates that levels of potentially toxic metals in blood and hair of both groups demonstrate a similar immediate and long-term exposure. However, 36% of the ASD group showed signs of zinc deficiency compared to 11% of the Control group and this points towards inefficiency of the Phase I detoxification pathway. More research is needed to explore the role of other elements in the detoxification pathway.


Author(s):  
Emily Neuhaus

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by deficits in social communication and interaction, and restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests. Although current diagnostic conceptualizations of ASD do not include emotional difficulties as core deficits, the disorder is associated with emotion dysregulation across the lifespan, with considerable implications for long-term psychological, social, and educational outcomes. The overarching goal of this chapter is to integrate existing knowledge of emotion dysregulation in ASD and identify areas for further investigation. The chapter reviews the prevalence and expressions of emotion dysregulation in ASD, discusses emerging theoretical models that frame emotion dysregulation as an inherent (rather than associated) feature of ASD, presents neurobiological findings and mechanisms related to emotion dysregulation in ASD, and identifies continuing controversies and resulting research priorities.


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