as they grow, say researchers
The majority of low birth weight infants show improvements over time in verbal and IQ scores, Yale researchers report in the Feb. 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"These are among the first results to show that the brain may recover from injury over time," says principal investigator Dr. Laura Ment, professor of pediatrics and neurology at the School of Medicine.
Ment began this study after one of the parents in a separate study of premature infants remarked that her triplets were getting smarter. "My colleagues and I decided to investigate and are happy to report these positive findings," she adds.
By age 8, the children in the study increased their Peabody Picture Vocabulary IQ score by 11 points from 88 to 99. A score of 100 is the average for normal birth weight 8-year-olds.
Starting in 1989, Ment and her colleagues looked at 296 children who weighed between 600 and 1,250 grams at birth. The children had been part of the separate follow-up study since they were six hours old. That study tested the effects of the anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin for preventing intraventricular brain bleeding in premature infants.
Ment and her colleagues tested the children's verbal comprehension using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised and tested their intelligence using the Wechsler intelligence scales at intervals of 36, 54, 72 and 96 months corrected age.
"We found that children in two-parent households and those with mothers who had higher levels of education increased their IQ scores most," says Ment. "Children whose mothers had lower educational levels, but who received special services, such as physical therapy, occupational and speech therapy also increased their IQ scores."
Ment says the only children who did not do well were those with brain bleeding at six hours combined with additional brain injury. Animal studies have suggested that there is recovery after injury in a developing brain, meaning the brain is actually making more neurons.
Senior author Robert Makuch says there is hope for these children as well. "With ongoing services these children can benefit greatly from interventions," he says.
Ment says the next step is to replicate the study and to use MRI to analyze the brain volume of these children. One of her previous studies had shown that the children's brains at age 8 are smaller than brains of normal birth weight 8-year-olds. She will look at the brain volume at age 12 to determine if the brain differences remain the same or decrease over time.
Other authors on the study were Dr. Betty Vohr of the Brown University School of Medicine; and Yale researchers Dr. Walter Allan, Karol Katz, Karen Schneider, Michael Westerveld and Dr. Charles Duncan.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
-- By Karen Peart
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
New director of Equal Opportunity Office named
Former CIA head: In war, liberty and security can conflict
Students chosen for All-USA College Academic First Team
Adrienne Rich wins prestigious Bollingen Prize for poetry
Kannan has been appointed to Lanman chair
Activists urge students to join 'struggle' for social justice
Symposium to honor 'Yale's greatest scientist'
Symposium to explore rebuilding post-conflict states
MEDICAL CENTER NEWSIQs of premature infants rise as they grow, say researchers
Study reports 20% of people with epilepsy . . .
Drug to prevent breast cancer now being tested
Investigators seeking ways to treat painful gynecological disorder
Journalists Carlson, Kaufman to be next Poynter Fellows
Lecture series offers inside perspective on 'Managing the European Union'
Celebrating Black History Month
Three-day conference explores the musical traditions of Greece
Biologist John Trinkaus, expert on cell migration, dies
Friends recall life of graduate student Tom Casey, who died in kayaking accident
Digging the snow
Norbert Hirschhorn honored for pediatric research
Organ student Paul Jacobs garners music award
Connecticut-based ensemble to perform in campus concert
Yale Books in Brief
Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News
Bulletin Board|Yale Scoreboard|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines
Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs Home|News Releases|
E-Mail Us|Yale Home Page