Preemies at risk for behavior problems at age 5

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Very preterm or very low birth weight children are more likely to have behavioral and emotional problems when they start school, suggests a study conducted in the Netherlands.

Dr. S. A. Reijneveld, of University Medical Center Groningen and colleagues compared the prevalence of behavioral and emotional problems at age 5 years between 431 children born prematurely (less than 32 weeks' gestation) and weighing less than 1500 grams with that of 6,007 "control" children of the same age in the general population.

Overall, 13.2 percent of preterm/low birth weight children scored in the "clinical range" of emotional and behavioral problems, compared to 8.7 percent of children in the general population, a significant difference. The very preterm/low birth weight children were 60 percent more likely to have these problems.

The largest differences were observed for social and attention problems.

"The increased prevalence of problems among this group can...be expected to increase the burden of mental health morbidity among children in the community," Reijneveld and colleagues write.

"Pediatricians and other child health professionals working with (these) children should thus be prepared to meet relatively many behavioral and attention problems, and should also prepare parents concerning this."

SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition, November 2006.