Professor Dieter Wolke, University of Warwick

Long Term Psychological Outcomes after Preterm Birth

Preterm birth is defined as being born before 37 weeks gestation and very preterm birth as below 32 weeks gestation. Around 11% of children worldwide are born preterm and 1-2% are born very preterm (VP). I will be presenting results from our research in the last 30 years following children born very preterm from birth into adulthood including the Bavarian Longitudinal Study, the UK and Ireland EPICure study and our RECAP-preterm pan-European collaboration. The findings in adulthood confirm a very preterm psychological phenotype consisting of lower general IQ (-0.8 SD), increased ADHD symptoms, ASD symptoms and withdrawn personality. The evidence for increased depression is mixed. Furthermore, we have found that VP more often have lower educational qualifications, periods of unemployment and are more likely recipients of social benefits. Furthermore, new findings indicate that they have fewer friends, less likely to take risks and much less likely to experience sexual intercourse and have romantic partners. Thus their fertility is decreased. Nevertheless, two thirds develop adaptively while one third have often several of the above difficulties. Recently we have started to look at protective and resiliency factors and how these may reduce the burden for individuals. Implications for education and psychological services are discussed.

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