According to a study by the World Health Organization published this year, the number of children born before term is around 15 million and continues to increase. In Spain the rate of premature births already exceeds 7 percent of births. The age of the mother, the use of fertility treatments or stress in the last months of pregnancy are some factors that appear to be related to the increase in prematurity at birth.
Does being premature have brain consequences?It looks like it is. Different studies have found that children born prematurely have specific brain characteristics. And what’s more, this brain profile could accompany them into adulthood, according to experts from the Institute of Psychiatry in London. After analyzing the microstructure of the cerebral white matter with a modern neuroimaging technique,researchers found that adults with a history of prematurity had white matter abnormalitiesat the level of the corpus callosum (a huge bundle of fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres), and also in sensorimotor and association areas on both sides of the brain.
Does being a premature child affect school or work performance?The team from the Institute of Psychiatry in London explains that the alterations in the brain of these adults were associated with poorer performance in learning tasks and verbal memory, verbal fluency and executive functions.Similar data have also been found in adolescents who were born prematurely. The profile that has been described shows a tendency to haveIQlower than their full-term peers, and a higher frequency of behavioral disturbances and need for academic support.
Considering the growing number of children born prematurely and the consequences that this can have at the intellectual level, the need to determine what activities and programs can be offered to promote their cognitive development seems clear. There are already early care programs that pursue this goal with children from 0 to 3 years old. However,It is interesting to raise the need for initiatives that help these people to develop their full cognitive potentialnot only in childhood, but also in the performance of their academic and professional tasks throughout life.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain .
