PINKELTJE: Preterm INfants KnowLedge on Target height and outcomE;Growth and development of high risk and low risk preterm infants

Summary:

In the Netherlands about 8000 low risk preterm infants (LRPI's: gestational age 32-36 weeks) and 2500 high risk preterm infants (HRPI's: <32 weeks gestational age). Although more numerous, LRPI's lack international attention until now with respect to growth and development. Usually we believe that LRPI's won't encounter many problems later on in life, but some small studies on development seem to contradict this.

In our country development of young children is monitored by the Van Wiechen-Developmental-Instrument. If and for how long corrections must be made for gestational age is unknown. Furthermore we would like to study  if certain items of the VanWiechen instrument have predictive value for development of LRPI's later on and what is the role of the Well-baby-doctors in early signalling problems.

There is much uncertainty on optimal growth in premature infants. How and for how long must we correct for gestational age? Differences in standpoint on the issue of correction often leads to confusion. As there are no validated growth charts for preterm infants we aim to develop them. This large-scale investigation is designed as a cohort study in which retrospective (growth and Van Wiechen) and prospective information is gained from 1000 LRPI's, 5000 HRPI's and 625 term infants.