Abstract
The objective of the study was to follow neuromaturation in preterm infants. From serial exams in 90 low risk very low birthweight infants, each infant's Maturity Scores (the sum of tone, reflex, and response items) were plotted against postmenstrual age (PMA) when examined. Each infant's estimated line of best fit provides two descriptors of that infant's neuromaturation: slope (Individual Maturity Slope) and y-value (Predicted Maturity Score at 32-wk PMA). We found that Maturity Scores increased with PMA; 96% had correlation coefficients >0.8. Mean Actual and Predicted Maturity Scores at 32-wk PMA were 60 and 58, respectively, in 65 infants. When stratified by gestational age, Mean Actual Maturity Score at 30-wk PMA were 50 whether infants were 1 or several weeks old when examined. Therefore, low risk preterm infants demonstrated individual variability in rate of neuromaturation. Tone, reflexes, and responses nonetheless emerged in a predictable pattern, whether neuromaturation was intrauterine or extrauterine. This unique tool that measures preterm neuromaturation requires expertise but no technology. It has an exciting potential for providing insight into how emerging central nervous system function and structure influence each other, as well as how the central nervous system recovers from injury.
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Abbreviations
- CLD:
-
chronic lung disease
- PMA:
-
postmenstrual age in weeks, gestational age plus chronological age
- VLBW:
-
very low birthweight, with birthweight below 1500 g
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Acknowledgements
Analytical clinical research is meaningless if one cannot interpret the data that have been gathered. For this, our research team relied heavily on the insights, the expertise, and the wisdom of coauthor and perinatal epidemiologist Greg Alexander, who died February 20, 2007.
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Supported by grant R40 MC 00312 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (Title V, Social Security Act), Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services.
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Allen, M., Aucott, S., Cristofalo, E. et al. Extrauterine Neuromaturation of Low Risk Preterm Infants. Pediatr Res 65, 542–547 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e3181998b86
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e3181998b86
