Development of pretems <1500g in the first two years of life: Standardized testing according to the Griffith Scales and Mental Bayley Scales

Introduction: Preterms with a birth weight <1500g and gestational age <32 weeks born in the University hospital in Erlangen are enclosed in a follow-up care. At the age of 10–12 months, the development of the preterms was tested according to the Griffith Scales, at the age of 18–24 months we assessed the cognitive function by the Mental Bayley Scales of Infant Development. We investigated if the standardized testing with the Griffith Scales already points towards a cognitive dysfunction at the age of two years.

Results: 36 children were included in both test procedures. Mean gestational age was 29.2 weeks, the mean birth weight 1174g. 6 preterm children suffered from ICH I-II°, one preterm of an ICH III°, 11 (30,6%) children had bronchopulmonary dysplasia. 8 children (22%) were treated with phenobarbital for neonatal seizures.

Whereas 32 children had normal skills assessed by the Griffith Scales testing, 4 scored subnormal in different subscales. In the subscale hearing and language all of the children performed in the range of 1 standard deviation below the average. Locomotor skills, eye and hand co-ordination and the subscale performance were within the normal range. Testing according to the Mental Bayley Scales revealed cognitive dysfunction in 10 (31%) of the children in the range of -2 SDS. 4 of them had shown subnormal results in different subscales of the Griffith Scales.

Conclusion: Preterms who scored subnormal in the Griffith Scales at the age of 10–12 months obtained subnormal results in the Mental Bayley Scales at the age of 18–24 months. However, only 4of 10 children with subnormal results in the Mental Bayley Scales were detected as subnormal by the Griffith Scales. The present data emphasizes the significance of repeated developmental tests in the follow-up of preterm children during the first two years of life.