Very premature children have greater problems at school age

[7 May 2010 - 11h53]

Even today, real progress is still needed in the way that children with handicaps are managed both medically and socially and we still need a better understanding of the epidemiology of handicap.

This is one of the major conclusions reached in a special edition of the BEH (France’s weekly epidemiological bulletin) published on Tuesday by the InVS (French Institute for Public Health Surveillance). Very premature babies – those born before the 33rd week of pregnancy – suffer far more from handicaps at school age than those born at term.

Pierre-Yves Ancel, a researcher at INSERM (the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research), monitored 2,382 very premature infants born in 1997 up to their full-time education. The results show that at the age of 5, 9% of these children suffered from ongoing behavioural and/or motor problems, known collectively by the term cerebral motor infirmity. And 32% of them had an IQ lower than 85. At the age of 8, “the majority (of these children) were being taught in normal classes and were benefiting from the use of educational aids more often than children born at term”. From 2011, a new study will monitor 4,000 children born preterm up to their 12th birthday. This will make it possible to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the way they are managed over the long term.

This is exactly what the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI) wishes to see happen, according to the first report on this subject presented by the Foundation on Thursday to members of the European Parliament. Dialogue at EU level “will enable progress to take place in many countries in terms of prevention, funding and psychological help for families, long-term monitoring and support”.

Source : BEH, 4 May 2010.

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