ArticleArchives of disease in childhood2018
Cognitive trajectories from infancy to early adulthood following birth before 26 weeks of gestation: a prospective, population-based cohort study.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact of premature birth and low birth weight on motor, visual, and cognitive skills and mental health in adolescence: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Cervical Pessary Versus Vaginal Progesterone to Prevent Preterm Birth in Women with a Singleton Pregnancy and a Short Cervix: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive and academic outcomes of large-for-gestational-age babies born at early term: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2025Pooled it
- Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes of Very Preterm or Very Low Birth Weight Adults: Evidence From an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.PharmacoEconomics · 2023Pooled it
- Interventions to prevent spontaneous preterm birth in women with singleton pregnancy who are at high risk: systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2022Pooled it
- Association of Very Preterm Birth or Very Low Birth Weight With Intelligence in Adulthood: An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis.JAMA pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Supplementation of Omega 3 during Pregnancy and the Risk of Preterm Birth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Social-environmental moderators of neurodevelopmental outcomes in youth born preterm: A systematic review.Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence · 2021Pooled it
- Mediation Analysis to Untangle Opposing Associations of High-Dose Docosahexaenoic Acid With IQ and Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Children Born Preterm.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- Growth Rates of Infants Randomized to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or Intubation After Extremely Preterm Birth.The Journal of pediatrics · 2021Trial
- A multi-task, multi-stage deep transfer learning model for early prediction of neurodevelopment in very preterm infants.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Randomised trial of cord clamping at very preterm birth: outcomes at 2 years.Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition · 2020Trial
- Early predictors of cognitive trajectories from birth to adolescence in children born extremely preterm.Developmental medicine and child neurology · 2026Article
- Global burden of intellectual disability attributable to preterm birth from 1990 to 2021 and projections.iScience · 2026Article
- Spectral EEG in Congenital Heart Disease: A Case-Control Study in Infants Undergoing Cardiac Surgery.Pediatric cardiology · 2026Article
- Impact of birth weight on long-term growth and development in children: evidence from a nationwide cohort study.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Neurodevelopmental delays in children born after medically assisted reproduction: a national population cohort study.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2025Article
- Long-Term Educational Outcomes of Individuals Born Preterm.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Developmental outcomes of small infants at a high-risk clinic: A short-term longitudinal study.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir Kommunikasieafwykings · 2025Article
- Transplanted oligodendrocyte progenitor cells improve neurological defects in a rat model of preterm white-matter injury during the sequela phase.Translational pediatrics · 2025Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the trajectory of cognitive test scores from infancy to adulthood in individuals born extremely preterm compared with term-born individuals.
designA prospective, population-based cohort study.
setting276 maternity units in the UK and Ireland. PATIENTS: 315 surviving infants born less than 26 completed weeks of gestation recruited at birth in 1995 and 160 term-born classroom controls recruited at age 6.
main outcome measuresBayley Scales of Infant Development-Second Edition (age 2.5); Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (ages 6/11); Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-Second Edition (age 19).
resultsThe mean cognitive scores of extremely preterm individuals over the period were on average 25.2 points below their term-born peers (95% CI -27.8 to -22.6) and remained significantly lower at every assessment. Cognitive trajectories in term-born boys and girls did not differ significantly, but the scores of extremely preterm boys were on average 8.8 points below those of extremely preterm girls (95% CI -13.6 to -4.0). Higher maternal education elevated scores in both groups by 3.2 points (95% CI 0.8 to 5.7). Within the extremely preterm group, moderate/severe neonatal brain injury (mean difference: -10.9, 95% CI -15.5 to -6.3) and gestational age less than 25 weeks (mean difference: -4.4, 95% CI -8.4 to -0.4) also had an adverse impact on cognitive function.
conclusionsThere is no evidence that impaired cognitive function in extremely preterm individuals materially recovers or deteriorates from infancy through to 19 years. Cognitive test scores in infancy and early childhood reflect early adult outcomes.
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