A Sixteen-year Longitudinal Study of Mental development of Low
Birth Weight Infants
Peng YM, Feng LY, Guo ZP, Liu XY
Department of Child Health Care,
Children’s Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Objective: To explore and reveal the long-term
effect of low birth weight on mental
development of
children and adolescents.
Methods: The mental development and school achievement of 203 LBW infants (101 small for date and 102 preterm
infants) and 71 full-term infants with normal birth weight living in
Shanghai were observed from birth to sixteen years. Children's mental
developmental abilities were assessed by using the Gesell at 16, 28, 40, 52
weeks and 18, 24 and 36 months; WPPSI test at 5 years﹑the WISC-R at 16 years.
Data on school achievement at 16 years were collected. The subjects
included Chinese, Math, Physics, Chemistry, English and Politics.
Results: There were significant differences in the mean IQ/DQ
and scores on school achievement in all observing time layers among SFD,
preterm and control groups (P<0.01). All these index showed a rank that the
control group was higher than preterm, and preterm group was higher than
SFD’s. This trend would last to adolescence. There is no evidence to show
that the catch-up development will happen in mental development of low
birth weight infants. There was the highest percentage with IQ scores below
85 in SFD group, second in preterm children, and the lowest in control
group. The exams’ grades of 6 subjects at 16 years showed a same trend as
scores of IQ. Conclusion: It is very obvious that LBW can affect children's
mental development﹑learning abilities. Furthermore, this
kind of influence may continue to their adolescence. The negative effects of
LBW on mental development and learning abilities of SFD group is more
obviously than of preterm infants.