Preterm infants performed significantly (p≤0.05) worse than the full-term infants on cognitive scale, receptive language, gross motor and fine motor scales. No significant differences were found between preterm and full-term infants on the expressive language scale. Two-way ANOVA revealed no significant (p≤0.05) differences between female premature infants and full-term female infants on the gross motor scale in comparison to male infants. It has been proposed that the prematurity has a specific, but not a global, negative effect on the neurocognitive development in the first year of life with the gender effect on the development of gross motor skills.
The article features an empirical study of the development of neurocognitive functions in moderate and late preterm children at the age of 3, 5, 10, 14, and 25 months. To date, this population of infants is 75–80 % of the total number of premature infants, but specialists of different profiles do not give enough attention to this group of children, which limits the amount of information regarding their neurocognitive development, in spite of the fact that prematurity at any gestation period gives the right to refer the child to a risk group of different impairments. Premature birth has a certain impact on the development of the infant’s brain, affecting the important processes of differentiation of neurons, myelination, synaptogenesis, etc. Neurocognitive functions were measured by the Bayley Scales behavioral technique, third edition (Bayley-III). The technique makes it possible to assess the cognitive development, the development of receptive and expressive communication, as well as fine and gross motor skills. The research demonstrated that moderate and late prematurity has a selective effect on the development of neurocognitive functions, and the degree of impact depends on the stage of ontogenesis and the sphere of development.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.