Study: Preemies are Four Times More Prone to Behavioural Disorders

A new study says that premature babies are four times more likely to have emotional problems or behavioural disorders later in life than their peers.

The research led by the University of Warwick examined the behaviour of 200 six-year-old children who had been born below 26 weeks gestation, known as 'extremely pre-term'.

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The team compared the behaviour of these extremely pre-term children with a control group of a similar age. They used reports filed by parents and teachers to test whether extremely pre-term children had more pervasive behaviour problems (described by both teachers and parents).

The researchers found 30.6 percent of pre-term children were hyperactive, compared to 8.8 percent in the full-term group, and 33.3 percent of pre-term children displayed attention problems, compared to 6.8 percent.

They highlighted a distinction between genders in the pre-term group.

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Boys born prematurely showed a higher degree of behaviour problems, such as ADHD, and girls experienced 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.

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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 percent of the pre-term group."

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Source-ANI
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