Effects of intrauterine growth retardation and its subtypes on the development of the preterm infant.

The aim of this prospective study was to examine the neurological development of preterm children with asymmetric (A-SGA) or symmetric (S-SGA) intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Twenty-six A-SGA preterm children, 27 S-SGA preterm children and 131 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) preterm children were compared with 121 full-term AGA children. They were assessed by one author at the corrected age of 18 months +/- 2 weeks using the modified Denver Developmental Screening Test. Development was evaluated in terms of scores for fine motor and gross motor performance, for visuo-auditory perception, for speech and for social abilities. In the A-SGA group there were more children with low visuo-auditory perception scores and social abilities scores than in the control group. The S-SGA group differed from the other groups in all developmental sectors except visuo-auditory perception. Numbers of neurologically abnormal or suspect children in both SGA groups were twice the number in the control group. IUGR and sex were the only factors that correlated with slow neurological development. These results show that there will be a significant possibility of slow neurological development if a preterm baby has been subject to IUGR, especially symmetric IUGR.