Late-preterms: A group of infants at risk for cognitive developmental delay. Systematic review and description of evaluation tools

Children born at 34-36 weeks' gestation are defined as late-preterms (LP); they are considered as being at risk for adverse cognitive outcomes compared to infants born at term. We performed an extensive search and systematic review of English language articles on the cognitive development of LP from the first year of life to school age, published between January 2006 and June 2013. General cognitive outcome, specific neuropsychological abilities and school performances were investigated. We selected the studies that had used standardized instruments for the evaluation. Nineteen studies were reviewed; eleven were on pre-school children and eight on school-age children. The results suggest that pre-school LP children reach a lower general cognitive level than term children, and perform worse when specific neuropsychological abilities are measured. At school age LP still reach a lower cognitive level and have more academic difficulties in comparison to term infants. The reasons for the lower cognitive performances of LP might be related to prematurity itself, but also to the causes of the preterm birth.