Neonatal systemic inflammation and the risk of low scores on measures of reading and mathematics achievement at age 10 years among children born extremely preterm

Alan Leviton, Olaf Dammann, Elizabeth N Allred, Robert M Joseph, Raina N Fichorova, T Michael O’Shea, Karl C K Kuban

Int J Dev Neurosci. 2018 Feb 1;66:45-53.

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We measured 27 inflammatory-related & neurotrophic/angiogenic blood proteins in 1st month from 660 who at age 10 yrs had IQ ≥ 70. We identified 4 groups, a Z-score ≤ -1 on Word Reading assessment only, on Numerical Operations assessment only, on both.RESULTS: The protein profile of low reading scores was confined to the third and fourth postnatal weeks when increased risks were associated with high concentrations of IL-8 and ICAM-1 in the presence of low concentrations of angio-neurotrophic proteins. The profile of low math scores was very similar, except it did not include ICAM-1. In contrast, the profile of low scores on both assessments was present in each of the first four postnatal weeks. The increased risks associated with high concentrations of TNF-α in the first two weeks and of IL-8 and ICAM-1 in the next two weeks were modulated down by high concentrations of angio-neurotrophic proteins.

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