Premature babies have more developmental problems than babies delivered at term, according to a study by the Institut de veille sanitaire (InVS) that appears in the World Health Organization’s Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER).
Researchers followed 1,800 babies born at seven months instead of at term. They found that 40% of them had intellectual delays, motor dysfunction or sensory impairment at the age of five in comparison to only 12% of babies born at term.
Pierre-Yves Ancel is a researcher at the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm). He adds that behavioural troubles are also two times greater among kids born prematurely. Only 9% of children born at term are hyperactive or hypersensitive as compared to 21% of premies.
The effects continue right into the school years. 18% of kids born prematurely have to repeat a school year as compared to only 5% of other children.