C Limperopoulos

Dr C Limperopoulos, Montreal Children’s Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; catherine.limperopoulos@childrens.harvard.edu

QUESTION

What are the prevalence and risk factors of early autistic features in young children who had very low birth weights?

METHODS

Design:

inception cohort of preterm infants followed up to 18–24 months of age adjusted for prematurity.

Setting:

{a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, USA}.*

Patients:

consecutive series of 103 preterm infants with birth weights <1500 g (median gestational age 26 wks, 60% boys, median birth weight 890 g). Exclusion criteria were known or suspected cerebral dysgenesis, dysmorphic syndromes, or chromosomal disorders. 8 infants died, and 4 were lost to follow-up.

Prognostic factors:

maternal age and temperature, acute intrapartum or antepartum haemorrhage, preterm labour, placental infection, gestational age at birth, birth weight, sex, admission Score of …