Advertising Disclaimer
Published online November 30, 2009
PEDIATRICS Vol. 124 No. 6 December 2009, pp. e1161-e1170 (doi:10.1542/peds.2009-0244)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Soria-Pastor, S.
Right arrow Articles by Junqué, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Soria-Pastor, S.
Right arrow Articles by Junqué, C.
Related Collections
Right arrow Neurology & Psychiatry
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Decreased Regional Brain Volume and Cognitive Impairment in Preterm Children at Low Risk

Sara Soria-Pastor, MSca,b, Nelly Padilla, MD, PhDb,c,d, Leire Zubiaurre-Elorza, MSca,b, Naroa Ibarretxe-Bilbao, MSca,b, Francesc Botet, MD, PhDb,e, Carme Costas-Moragas, PhDf, Carles Falcon, PhDb,g, Nuria Bargallo, PhDh, Josep Maria Mercader, MD, PhDb,h, Carme Junqué, PhDa,b

a Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
b Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain
c Centre for Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
d Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
e Pediatrics Section, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Radiology and Medical Physics
h Neuroradiology Section, Radiology Department, Centre de Diagnòstic per la Imatge, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain
f Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
g CIBER BBN, Barcelona, Spain

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether preterm children with low risk for neurodevelopmental deficits show long-term changes in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes compared with term children and to relate these changes to cognitive outcome.

METHODS: MRI was used to evaluate 20 preterm children who were determined to be at low risk for neurodevelopmental deficits and were born between 30 and 34 weeks’ gestational age without major neonatal morbidity or cerebral pathology in the neonatal period and 22 matched, term control subjects. Volumetric images were analyzed by means of voxel-based morphometry to identify regional cerebral alterations. Children also underwent cognitive and behavioral/emotional assessments.

RESULTS: Preterm children showed global and regional GM volume reductions in several brain areas, including temporal and parietal lobes and concomitant WM volume reductions in the same areas, although only the left temporal regions achieved statistical significance. Global intellectual performance in the preterm group was significantly decreased compared with control subjects. Neither behavioral nor emotional problems were found in the preterm group. In the whole sample, we found a positive correlation between GM volume bilaterally in the middle temporal and in the postcentral gyri with IQ. Positive correlations were observed between GM and gestational age at birth in parietal and temporal cerebral regions and with WM in parietal regions.

CONCLUSION: Preterm birth has an important impact on the neurodevelopmental and cognitive outcome of children at 9 years of age, being a risk factor for decreased regional cortical GM and WM even in preterm children with low risk for neurodevelopmental deficits.

Key Words: children • MRI • neurocognition • preterm • voxel-based morphometry

Abbreviations: GA—gestational age • WM—white matter • GM—gray matter • VBM—voxel-based morphometry • WISC-IV—Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition • CBCL—Child Behavior Checklist • DARTEL—Diffeomorphic Anatomic Registration Through Exponentiated Lie Algebra

Accepted Jul 9, 2009.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?