Emotional and behavioral functioning among 10–14-year-old children who were very low birth weight at birth

Abstract

Objective

This study examined the emotional and behavioral functioning among 10–14 year-old children who were born with very low birth weight (VLBW, <1500).

Method

Prospective and cross-sectional study of 90 VLBW (<1500 g) survivors born at the Hospital Universitario la Paz in Madrid, Spain, from 2000 to 2005 who were assessed by interviewers using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Parents also reported on their children's functioning. Children who showed an abnormal SDQ score on the total difficulties subscale or who had psychiatric history were also assessed using the K-SADS-PL.

Results

The proportion of children with abnormal-self-rated-SDQ scores was as follows: almost 25% of children showed an abnormal score on hyperactivity, nearly 15% on emotional problems, 15% on conduct problems and 10% on peer problems. Overall, 15% of children showed an abnormal score on the total difficulties subscale. Most children (99%) showed a normal score on the prosocial subscale. These proportions were higher when the questionnaire was rated by parents. Thirty-eight percent of children were assessed using the K-SADS and very few of them meet the criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder. Biomedical variables were associated in the expected direction to children's SDQ scores such as birth weight, head circumference and Apgar scores.

Conclusion

To conclude, being born with very low birth weight seems to be related to the emotional and behavioral functioning that these children appear to show between 10 and 15 years later.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.