Learning Disability in 10- to 16-Year-Old Adolescents with Very Low Birth Weight in Japan

Learning Disability in 10- to 16-Year-Old Adolescents with Very Low Birth Weight in Japan

KEIKO TANABE,^1,2 KOJI TAMAKOSHI,² SAYA KIKUCHI³ and JUN MUROTSUKI^4,5

¹Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
²Department of Nursing for Developmental Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
³Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
⁴Department of Advanced Fetal and Developmental Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
⁵Department of Maternal and Fetal Medicine, Miyagi Children's Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of infants with very low birth weight (VLBW, i.e., weight less than 1,500 g) in Japan. However, the effect of VLBW on subsequent behavioral development and mental health remains unknown. Subjects enrolled were 57 individuals (13.4 ± 1.9 years old) with VLBW (VLBW group), including 23 small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants (i.e., the SGA/VLBW group) and 34 appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants (the AGA/VLBW group). The control group was 29 individuals born AGA at term. We used the questionnaires, the Pupil Rating Scale Revised (PRS) to screen for learning disabilities and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) to examine the presence of depression. The PRS score in the VLBW group was significantly lower than that of the control group (p < 0.001). Suspected learning disabilities (LD, defined by a score below 65 points on the PRS) were found in 6 out of the 56 subjects in the VLBW group (10.7%), whereas none were found in the 29 control subjects (p = 0.074). The frequency of suspected LD children was higher in the SGA/VLBW group (4 out of 22 evaluated infants, 18.2%) than that in the AGA/VLBW group (2/34, 5.9%). The frequency of suspected LD in the non-verbal field was significantly higher (p = 0.02) in the SGA/VLBW group (18.2%) than in the AGA/VLBW group (0%). However, CDI score did not significantly differ between groups. These findings suggest that VLBW and fetal growth restriction may pose a risk for LD among adolescents with VLBW.

keywords —— adolescence; depression; learning disabilities; small for gestational age; very low birth weight

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2014, 232, 27-33

Correspondence: Keiko Tanabe, R.N., N.M., Ph.D., Department of Nursing for Developmental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, 1-1-20 Daiko-minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 461-8673, Japan.

e-mail: tanabe@met.nagoya-u.ac.jp