Neonatal White Matter Microstructure and Emotional Development during the Preschool Years in Children Who Were Born Very Preterm.

ABSTRACT: Children born very preterm (<33 weeks of gestation) are at a higher risk of developing socio-emotional difficulties compared with those born at term. In this longitudinal study, we tested the hypothesis that diffusion characteristics of white matter (WM) tracts implicated in socio-emotional processing assessed in the neonatal period are associated with socio-emotional development in 151 very preterm children previously enrolled into the Evaluation of Preterm Imaging study (EudraCT 2009-011602-42). All children underwent diffusion tensor imaging at term-equivalent age and fractional anisotropy (FA) was quantified in the uncinate fasciculus (UF), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). Children's socio-e

SUBMITTER: Kanel D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8489022 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature