Arch Dis Child 2000;83:25-30 ( July )

Article

Cognitive development of term small for gestational age children at five years of age K Sommerfelt^a, H W Andersson^c, K Sonnander^e, G Ahlsten^f, B Ellertsen^b, T Markestad^a, G Jacobsen^d, H J Hoffman^g, L Bakketeig^d

^a Department of Pediatrics, University of Bergen, Barneklinikken, 5021 Haukeland Sykehus, Norway, ^b Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, ^c Department of Psychology, University of Trondheim, Norway, ^d Department of Community Medicine and General Practice, University of Trondheim, ^e Department of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Ulleråker, University of Uppsala, Sweden, ^f Department of Pediatrics, University of Uppsala, ^g National Institutes of Health (NIH), 1 Epidemiology, Statistics and Data System Branch, NIDCD

Correspondence to: Dr Sommerfelt email: ksom{at}haukeland.no

Accepted 21 March 2000

AIMTo assess the relative significance for cognitive development of small for gestational age, parental demographic factors, and factors related to the child rearing environment.
METHODSIQ of a population based cohort of 338 term infants who were small for gestational age (SGA) and without major handicap, and a random control sample of 335 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants were compared at 5 years of age.
RESULTSThe mean non-verbal IQ was four points lower, while the mean verbal IQ was three points lower for the children in the SGA group. The results were not confounded by parental demographic or child rearing factors. However, parental factors, including maternal non-verbal problem solving abilities, and child rearing style, accounted for 20% of the variance in non-verbal IQ, while SGA versus AGA status accounted for only 2%. The comparable numbers for verbal IQ were 30 and 1%. Furthermore, we found no evidence that the cognitive development of SGA children was more sensitive to a non-optimal child rearing environment than that of AGA children. Maternal smoking at conception was associated with a reduction in mean IQ comparable to that found for SGA status, and this effect was the same for SGA and AGA children. The cognitive function of asymmetric SGA was comparable to that of symmetric SGA children.
CONCLUSIONSOur findings indicate that child cognitive development is strongly associated with parental factors, but only marginally associated with intrauterine growth retardation.


Keywords: small for gestational age; socioeconomic status; preschool; cognitive

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© 2000 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
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