Preterm birth and executive attention
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Executive attention in children who were born very preterm
IRAS ID
143427
Contact name
David Edwards
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Research summary
The incidence of premature birth is rising and represents up to 13% of all births in the developed world. However, the improved survival of preterm infants has been associated with an increase in the prevalence of neonatal problems, and neurodevelopmental sequelae.
The main problems experienced by ex-preterm children concern executive attention (defined as the ability to keep attention and to inhibit automatic responses), emotional development and socio-communicative skills. Preterm-born children show higher prevalence of attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder and autism spectrum disorders compared to their term born peers. Such behavioural problems tend to co-occur with neurodevelopmental impairments, particularly in ’executive’ functions, which comprise a variety of high-order cognitive processes necessary for purposeful, long-term goal-directed behaviour.
Preterm-born children show specific problems in the executive domain, which have been related to problems in self-regulation. Poor emotional regulation has been described in ex-preterm infants and preschool children and it has further been related to poor academic achievement and social adjustment.
The first part of this research is intended to improve our understanding of the interaction between executive attention and psychosocial function in pre-school age children born very preterm compared to term controls. This will be done using a comprehensive neuropsychological and behavioral assessment of a cohort of 4 year old children born preterm and of a group of age-matched children born at term.
The second part of the study will investigate the way in which executive attention and emotional processing are processed in the brain of an older group of children (8 years old) born preterm using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Another aim of this second study is to administer an attention-training program in order to investigate whether the child’s attentional abilities can be improved and if the improvements linked with the training can be generalised to other cognitive functions, with potentially important clinical benefits.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0677
Date of REC Opinion
29 May 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion