Behaviour study of pre-term babies

Children born extremely prematurely are four times more likely to have emotional problems or behavioural disorders later in life than their peers, according to a study.

Research into 200 six-year-olds born below 26 weeks showed 30.6% were hyperactive - compared to 8.8% of a "control" group of their peers - with 33.3% displaying attention problems, compared to 6.8% of their contemporaries.

The study, led by the University of Warwick department of psychology and Warwick Medical School, attempted to contact the family of every child born in UK and Ireland at 25 weeks or earlier between March and December 1995.

The parents of 241 children from a possible 308 children who survived the first six years after birth responded to the study.

The team compared the behaviour of the extremely pre-term children with a control group of a similar age based on reports filed by parents and teachers.

The research highlighted a difference between boys and girls in the pre-term group.

Boys born extremely prematurely showed a higher degree of behaviour problems, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with girls experiencing more "internalising" disorders such as anxiety and depression.

The study also showed that extremely pre-term boys were more vulnerable to behavioural problems, and they had a greater impact on parents and teachers than extremely pre-term girls.

Professor of developmental psychology at Warwick Medical School, Dr Dieter Wolke, said: "In this cohort of pre-term children we found a considerable excess of behaviour difficulties, including problems in a range of domains such as emotion, hyperactivity, attention and peer relationship problems.

"Parents and teachers agreed these behaviour problems had a considerable impact on home and school life for 23% of the pre-term group."

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