Predicting motor impairments in children born very preterm

Published on Wednesday, 02 March 2016 Post

A systematic review of studies reporting risk factors for cerebral palsy and motor impairment in very preterm children has been published in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. The review, by NPEU researchers Louise Linsell, Reem Malouf, Jenny Kurinczuk and others, identified 28 articles published over two decades. The primary prognostic risk factors identified were major brain ultrasound abnormalities, male sex, antenatal corticosteroids (which predicts a lower risk) and postnatal steroids (which predicts a higher risk). Read the paper and the related editorial.