We found support for our hypothesis, in that Chinese subjects presented during a more severe stage of dementia than American subjects, but the delay in seeking care could not be correlated with significant differences in neuropsychiatric profiles of the demented subjects. Other barriers to dementia care warrant investigation.

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Background Lower gestational age may increase autism spectrum disorder (ASD) vulnerability; however, the incidence of ASD diagnosis through a direct assessment on every very preterm birth child on the population base remains unclear. Moreover, the behavioral characteristics of preterm birth ASD are unknown. Methods Every very preterm birth child (gestational age < 32 weeks; birth weight < 1500 g) who was discharged from neonatal intensive care units in Southern Taiwan and prospectively followed to 5 years of age was evaluated using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). The term birth (gestational age > 37 weeks) ASD children characterized by ADOS and ADI-R were group matched to the preterm birth ASD by age at examination for comparison. ADOS severity scores were calculated by the Mann–Whitney U test and ADI-R by multivariate analysis of variance and canonical discriminant analysis. Results Two hundred forty-six (87%) of the 283 very preterm survivors were followed prospectively to 5 years of age. Nineteen (7.7%) of the 246 children fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of ASD. After excluding 1 patient with cerebral palsy and profound mental disability, 18 preterm ASD children were compared with 44 term birth ASD children. The two ASD groups were comparable for age at examination, gender, and intelligence quotient. The two groups showed comparable ADOS severity scores in social affect deficits, restricted repetitive behaviors, and total score, but had differences in qualitative abnormalities in reciprocal social interaction (Wilks lambda F value = 6.2, P < 0.001) of ADI-R. Compared to term birth ASD children, preterm birth ASD children exhibited worse nonverbal behaviors that regulate social interaction (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.41–4.73, P = 0.002) but more favorable peer relationships (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.38–0.90, P = 0.01) and socioemotional reciprocity (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.33–0.92, P = 0.02). In contrast to the heterogeneous severity of social reciprocity in the term ASD group, the behavioral characteristics of the preterm ASD group showed a homogeneous reciprocal social interaction pattern. Conclusions The 5-year incidence rate of ASD was high in very preterm birth children. Preterm birth ASD exhibited a specific behavioral phenotype of reciprocal social interaction. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13229-019-0282-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Serial monitoring corpus callosum and cerebellar vermis size in early life of very preterm babies may predict the motor or mentality neurological outcome at 5 years of age.

BACKGROUND: Children born preterm are at high risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is still a lack of appropriate developmental markers. In this study, we aim to examine whether early mental performance trajectory is related to ASD outcome in the preterm population. METHODS: The population-based cohort included 414 very preterm survivors born between 2008 and 2014. After excluding children with severe neurosensory impairment, 319 children with available records of developmental quotients before age 2 years were enrolled. The trajectory of mental performance evaluated by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development across 6, 12, and 24 months of age was analyzed with group-based trajectory modeling. At 5 years of age, the ASD diagnosis was established by using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised. RESULTS: There were 29 children with ASD and 290 children without ASD. The mental performances from age 6 to 24 months could be classified into 3 trajectory patterns: low declining, high declining, and high stable, which corresponded to ASD prevalence at age 5 years of 35%, 9%, and 3%, respectively. ASD odds was 15 times higher in the low-declining group than in the high-stable group (odds ratio 15; 95% confidence interval 3.8-59; P , .001). Through the analysis of multinomial logistic regression, we found that male infants with longer exposure to oxygen therapy whose mothers had lower maternal education levels tended to follow the low-declining trajectory. CONCLUSIONS: The early-life mental trajectory patterns, by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, may lead to identification of vulnerable children born preterm for early ASD diagnosis and targeted intervention.

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