Table 1.
Summary of the investigations which compared the prevalence of LD in preterm (PT) and full-term (FT) children.
| References (Ordered by Publication Year) |
FT and PT Group Characteristics | Age of Assessment | % of Delayed PT Children | % of Delayed FT Children | Language Measure and Classification Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singer et al. [27] | 98 VLBW with BPD Mean GA 27 (SD:2) weeks. | 36 months | BDI communication subscale | ||
| 70 VLBW without BPD. Mean GA: 30 (2) | DQ < 85 (equivalent to <−1 SD) | ||||
| 95 FT children. Groups did not differ in gender, maternal education SES, race. Exclusion: serious neurological problems, socially disadvantaged. | 49%BPD/34% | 30% $ | Receptive | ||
| 44%BPD/25% | 25% $ | Expressive | |||
| 43%BDP/31% | 28% | Overall | |||
| Wolke et al. [28] | 241 EPT children (GA ≤25 weeks) | 72 months | PLS-3 < −2 SD | ||
| 15.6% | 1.9% * | Total score | |||
| 9.5% | 1.3% | Receptive | |||
| 12.1% | 1.3% | Expressive | |||
| Woodward et al. [5] | 105 EPT/VPT Mean GA: 28 weeks. 16%: cerebral palsy | 48 months | CELF-P < −1 SD | ||
| 30% | 15.2%* | Receptive | |||
| 107 FT with higher SES than the PT | 25% | 12.4%* | Expressive | ||
| 31% | 15.2%* | Overall | |||
| Foster Cohen et al. [29] | 105 VPT (stay in NICU): 19 with moderate or severe and 60 with mild white matter abnormality. Mean GA: 27.8 (2.3) | 48 months | CELF-P | ||
| 107 FT children | Overall | ||||
| Exclusion: congenital | 16% | 8.6% | Mild LD: >−1 SD below the mean of the FT group | ||
| abnormalities and non-English speaking parents. | 15% | 6.7%* | Moderate or severe LD: <−1,5 SD | ||
| SES and maternal education of FT significantly higher. | 31% | 15.3% | Total LD | ||
| Sansavini et al. [30] | 64 very preterm. Mean GA: 30.4 (2.1) without serious complications longitudinally followed. | 30 months | 24.1% (CDI) | 13.6% | Italian CDI total word prod. 10th percentile |
| 16.1% (MLU) | 9.1% | PRF MLU < −1.25 SD | |||
| FT group: 22 / 40 (at age 30 and 42 months) | 42 months | 34.4% (MLU) | 7.5% * | PRF MLU < −1.25 SD | |
| Sansavini et. al. [31] | 104 VPT children. | 24 months | 20% | 5% * | Italian CDI short form word product. |
| Mean GA: 29.5 (2.1) weeks 20 FT children |
<10th percentile | ||||
| Charollais et al. [32] | 117 VPT children GA range: 25–32 weeks. Stay in NICU. No medical or demographic information. | 24 months | 41% | 10% * | French CDI short form. Word production. |
| Control: Normative sample, N = 385 | <10th percentile. | ||||
| Stolt et al. [33] | 141 VPT. Mean GA: 28 (3) weeks. 146 FT longitudinally followed |
24 months | Finnish CDI | ||
| 18% | 9%* | Word prod. | |||
| 18% | 8%* | MLU3 | |||
| 16% | 10% | Bayley-II expressive language | |||
| 120–131 VPT 123–137 FT Similar maternal education |
60 months | 27% | 10% * | Nepsy lang. | |
| 20% | 10% * | 5 to 15 lang scores. | |||
| <10th percentile of the FT group | |||||
| Lee and Lee [21] | 86 PT Korean children. Mean GA = 30.45 weeks. Median stay at NICU: 34 days. | 10 to 30 months | Korean CDI word prod. | ||
| 46.5% | 0% * | word prod | |||
| SELSI: | |||||
| 43% | 0% * | Combined | |||
| 50% | 0% * | Expressive | |||
| 34.9% | 0% | Receptive | |||
| 10th percentile | |||||
| Do et al. [34] | 184 Vietnamese PT children. Mean GA = 31.6 (2.5). | 24 months | 8% | 0% * | BSID-III: Language Composite Score. |
| Mean stay in NICU of 34 days. | <−2 SD | ||||
| Control PT: normative sample of 78 children (no sociodemographic information) |
Notes: * Significant differences between delay percentages of the two groups. $ Significant differences between delay percentages of the PT group with BPD and the other two (FT and PT without BPD). BDI: Batelle Developmental Inventories. BSID-III: Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III. CELF-P: Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals- Preschool. CDI: Communication Development Inventories-MacArthur-Bates scales. MLU3: Mean Length of Utterances of the three longest utterances (obtained with the CDI). NICU: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. PLS-3: Preschool Language Scale-3 (UK), which comprises Auditory Comprehension and Expressive Communication scales. PRF MLU: Prova di Repetizione di Frasi (Italian Test of sentence repetition) Mean Length of Utterances. SELSI: Sequenced Language Scale for Infant. 5 to 15 language: Five to Fifteen Language.