Development Following Premature Birth

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This work examines the long-term effects of prematurebirth on children's neurodevelopment and psychosocialfunctioning to determine the role corticosteroidtreatments play in influencing this development. 155children who were born very prematurely, (31 weeksgestation or less) were comprehensively assessed.Results were analysed in terms of whether or notsteroid treatments were received after birth. Inorder to control for genetic influences, 25nearest-age siblings were also assessed in additionto aspects of environment and parenting style.Factors relating to family functioning, parentalmental health and demographic variables wereconsidered. The main outcome measures were cognitiveability, behavioural competencies and behaviouraldifficulties. There were significant groupdifferences indicating that steroids impact onlong-term outcomes. Environmental factors were alsostrongly predictive of outcomes. It was concludedthat postnatal steroid administration has an impactupon development which has been overlooked in much ofthe literature, however, environmental factors suchas family functioning appear to have a key role inthese children's development.