Neonatal systemic inflammation and the risk of low scores on measures of reading and mathematics achievement at age 10 years among children born extremely preterm

Abstract

High concentrations of angio-neurotrophic proteins appear to reduce/moderate the risk of each learning limitation associated with systemic inflammation. The three categories of limitations have protein profiles with some similarities, and yet some differences, too.

The risk of neurodevelopmental disorders at age 10 years associated with blood concentrations of interleukins 4 and 10 during the first postnatal month of children born extremely preterm

“…Because sustained (or less likely, intermittent) inflammation has been most clearly associated with increased risk of brain damage in the ELGAN Study cohort, 1,32,35 we place most credence on elevated concentrations on multiple days. We evaluated 16 neurocognitive correlates (DAS-II working memory, 9 components of the NEPSY-II, both components of the OWLS, and four components of the WIAT-III).…”

“…Information from these three sets of analyses provided information about potential confounders. Based on this information and what we know about this sample, 32–34 we decided to adjust for gestational age category (i.e., 23–24 and 25–26 weeks), birth weight Z-score < −1, and same-day top quartile concentration of IL-8.…”

Anti-Inflammatory Therapies for Treatment of Inflammation-Related Preterm Brain Injury

“…In human preterm-born infants with evidence of brain injury, elevated concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2, and IL-17) were reported in the amniotic fluid [ 116 ], umbilical cord blood [ 117 ], neonatal blood [ 118 ], cerebrospinal fluid [ 119 ], and brain tissue [ 120 ]. This elevation of proinflammatory cytokines is strongly correlated with adverse neurological outcomes [ 62 , 63 , 121 ]. Therefore, the negative effects of inflammation on brain development are considered to involve an imbalance between the pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine responses [ 122 , 123 ].…”

Executive Dysfunction Early Postnatal Biomarkers among Children Born Extremely Preterm

“…Consequently, we have compared children whose concentrations of inflammation-related proteins are in the top quartile to children who had lower concentrations. This has allowed us to identify inflammation as an antecedent of ventriculomegaly when the newborn was in the intensive care nursery (Leviton et al, 2011b;Leviton et al, 2018b), and low Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (O'Shea et al, 2012), an attention problem (O'Donnell et al, 2014), cerebral palsy (Kuban et al, 2014), and microcephaly (Leviton et al, 2011c) at age 2 years, and low IQ , attention deficit hyperactive disorder at age 10 years (Allred et al, 2017), and learning limitations (Leviton et al, 2018a).…”