Preterm Children's Brains May Catch Up by the Time They're Teenagers

It turns out that there's some good news for preterm babies. While previous research has shown that preterm babies may have brains that fall behind those born at term, scientists have now found that by the time they become teenagers, the brains of preterm babies can catch up.

"Every year, 10 percent of Australian babies are born preterm, and many studies have shown that these children often have cognitive difficulties in childhood," said Julia Pitcher, one of the lead authors of the new study, in a news release. "This new study has some positive news. We looked at the factors that determine cognitive abilities in early adolescence, and found that whether or not you were born preterm appears to play a relatively minor role. Of significantly more importance is the degree of social disadvantage you experienced in your early life after birth, although genetics is important."

In order to better understand the cognitive functions of preterm babies, the researchers examined the abilities of 145 preterm and term-born children over the age of 12. The scientists also assessed data on social disadvantage at the time of birth and at the time of the cognitive assessment.

So what did they find? It turns out that those born to term still have better cognitive abilities, such as working memory, brain processing efficiency and general intellectual ability. That said, preterm babies aren't as far behind as scientists once thought.

"Reduced connectivity in the brain, associated with microstructural abnormalities from preterm birth, is likely contributing to the cognitive deficits in these children," said Luke Schneider, one of the researchers. "But these abnormalities seem to be amenable to improvement depending on the environment the child grows up in, particularly as an infant, and might account for why some preterm children do better than others."

Currently, the scientists want to find out exactly which factors drive different aspects of brain development. This could result in interventions that could help preterm babies in the future.

The findings are published in The Journal of Pediatrics.