Mental and Physical Development of Children Prematurely Born

Abstract

is not our purpose to review the literature at this time, but an illustrative quotation from an extensive study of 437 premature or immature children will not be amiss.The fate of immature children is not enviable ; almost one-half of them die during the first year of life. Of those that remain alive, the majority are physically as well as mentally underdeveloped. Some of them show a late mental development; others show a condition of psychic infantilism, if the term may be used in its nonspecific sense; while still others show permanent and severe mental diseases. When they are passed in review, one is surprised at the variety and amount of abnormality encountered, almost a regular "pathologic museum." In brief, the immature infant becomes the backward school child, and is a potential psychopathic or neuropathic patient and even a potential candidate for the home for imbeciles and idiots.1In contrast with this statement is the conclusion that physical and mental injuries resulting from prematurity, which remain through life, are not observed, that such divergences as delay in walking are due to lack of muscular tone rather than to mental injury, and that the men¬ tality of the children observed was of the "highest type in every par-

An Evidentiary Review Regarding the Use of Chronological and Adjusted Age in the Assessment of Preterm Infants

“…Recommendations for using age adjustment for the assessment of premature infants can be found in the literature as early as 1930. Mohr and Bartelme (1930, p. 1014) reported that 50 preterm children had mental development similar to that of full‐term control siblings when “allowance was made for the period of prematurity.” They also noted that the preterm children did not differ from the full‐term children regarding the beginning of tooth eruption, onset of walking, talking, and bladder control if correction was made for prematurity. Since that time, researchers have continued to explore the issue of age adjustment to determine if it is necessary, how long to adjust, which parameters should be adjusted, whether full or partial adjustment should occur, and any potential adverse effects from the use of age adjustment.…”

“…Recommendations for using age adjustment for the assessment of premature infants can be found in the First received May 10, 2009;Revision received July 16, 2009; Accepted for publication July 21, 2009. literature as early as 1930. Mohr andBartelme (1930, p. 1014) reported that 50 preterm children had mental development similar to that of full-term control siblings when "allowance was made for the period of prematurity." They also noted that the preterm children did not differ from the full-term children regarding the beginning of tooth eruption, onset of walking, talking, and bladder control if correction was made for prematurity.…”

The Prognosis of Immaturity

“…The amount of disagreement is disconcerting; the investigators can be ranged, in Itwo groups-those who consider that the ultimate prognosis is on the whole good, and those who take a more gloomy view. Among the optimists are Hess, Gesell (1933), Mohr and Bartelme (1930), Levine andGordon (1942), andComberg (1927). (With the exception of Comberg's work all these studies were carried out on American children.)…”

Developmental Screening Tools for Motor Developmental Delay in High Risk Preterm Infants

“…The preterm birth is not only quan ta vely diff erent from full-term birth but also diff ers qualita vely because of invariable co-morbidi es associated with prematurity. Mohr & Bartelme 21 introduced the concept of conceptual age also referred to as corrected or adjusted age to overcome the quan ta ve lag of preterm infants. The performance of preterm infants on a developmental screening tool a er age adjustment need not necessarily match with the performance on specifi c a ributes of full term infants.…”