New York - Babies who are born several weeks too soon are at increased risk for behavioural problems later in life compared with children who are born at the expected time, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics.
Health and demographic factors appear to influence the risk of such problems.
Infants born prematurely are at risk for a number of health problems in the first few weeks of life, such as lung collapse.
However, there is growing evidence that the effects of preterm birth may be long lasting. The present study focused on infants born very early, between just 22 and 32 weeks of gestation.
The findings "should encourage the early detection of behavioural difficulties to reduce their consequences on the well-being and social adaptation of the children," note Dr Malika Delobel-Ayoub, from the Research Unit on Perinatal Health and Women's Health in Villejuif, France, and colleagues.
Delobel-Ayoub and colleagues studied 1 228 very preterm infants and 447 full-term infants who were born in 1997 and assessed three years later for behavioural difficulties using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, which is administered to the parents.
Twenty percent of very preterm children and nine percent of term children had behavioural problems, the report indicates.
Brain abnormalities detected by ultrasound, hospitalisation within the last year, and poor health were risk factors for behavioural problems among the very preterm children. Likewise, young maternal age and low maternal education also predicted such problems.
Very preterm birth was significantly associated with overall behavioural difficulty, hyperactivity, conduct problems and peer problems.
"It is important to know whether children born very prematurely are at risk of behavioural problems early in life to deal with and prevent the effects of these problems at school age," the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, June 2006.