Early medical risks to language development in extremely preterm infants

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To study the mechanistic role of neonatal morbidities on language performance in extremely preterm (EP) infants. STUDY DESIGN We conducted secondary analyses on EP infants

born at a single tertiary care center, investigating whether neonatal morbidities mediated associations between gestational age and language performance at 18–26 months corrected age.

RESULTS Infants born at 25–26 weeks (_n_ = 298) outperformed those born at 22–24 weeks (_n_ = 177) in expressive communication, receptive communication, composite language, and cognition.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), grade 2/3 bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and cognition partially explained gestational age effects on expressive and receptive communication. In the

final sequential path models, infants born 22–24 weeks gestation were more likely to be diagnosed with grade 2/3 BPD, which was linked to diminished cognitive skills, and reduced language

skills. CONCLUSION Families of EP infants born under 25 weeks or with ROP and/or grade 2/3 BPD should be counseled about higher language impairment risk and receive proactive intervention.

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support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE AND BRAIN VOLUMES, ASYMMETRY, AND CORTICAL THICKNESS IN CHILDREN BORN EXTREMELY PRETERM Article Open access 03 November

2023 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AT LATE INFANCY AND SCHOOL AGE IN CHILDREN COOLED FOR NEONATAL ENCEPHALOPATHY Article Open access 30 May 2025 LONG-TERM NEURODEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES AMONG PRETERM

INFANTS BORN TO MOTHERS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS Article 29 October 2021 DATA AVAILABILITY The dataset is available in NICHD DASH (https://dash.nichd.nih.gov/) from the corresponding author on

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Central  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the families who participated in the study and the research staff who helped with data

collection. FUNDING Paige Nelson was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Science (Grant T32GM108540). The original data collection was funded by the National Institutes of

Health, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (UG1HD053109). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Psychological

and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA Paige M. Nelson, Francesca Scheiber & Ö. Ece Demir-Lira * Stead Family Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City,

IA, USA Heidi M. Harmon Authors * Paige M. Nelson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Francesca Scheiber View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ö. Ece Demir-Lira View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Heidi M. Harmon View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS PMN and HMH conceptualized and designed the study, guided the statistical analyses, drafted the initial

manuscript, and revised subsequent drafts. HMH also oversaw and coordinated data collection. FS contributed to drafting the initial manuscript, and ÖED supported the statistical analyses.

All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Paige M. Nelson. ETHICS DECLARATIONS

COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. ETHICS APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE This study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The

original data collection was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Iowa. For this study, the IRB determined that, due to the de-identified nature of

the data, further IRB review was not necessary. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to

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Demir-Lira, Ö.E. _et al._ Early medical risks to language development in extremely preterm infants. _J Perinatol_ 45, 378–385 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-024-02191-z Download

citation * Received: 24 April 2024 * Revised: 11 November 2024 * Accepted: 26 November 2024 * Published: 13 December 2024 * Issue Date: March 2025 * DOI:

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