In this study, we followed the development of preterm born infants and a comparison group of full-terms during the first year of life. The first aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of developmental delay (DD) among preterm infants and to identify perinatal risk factors associated with DD. An additional aim was to identify early behavioral characteristics and developmental trajectories that distinguish between preterm infants with and without DD. Finally, we examined maternal state of resolution regarding the preterm birth and the contribution of maternal and infant characteristics to the early maternal resolution. One hundred and four preterm and 37 full-term infants participated in developmental assessments from hospital discharge through 12 months of age (corrected for prematurity). Following the developmental assessment at 12 months, 12 (11%) preterm infants were diagnosed with DD, whereas none of the full-term infants were diagnosed with DD. Preterm infants diagnosed with DD had significantly lower gestational age, lower Apgar scores and a higher medical risk score than preterm infants without DD. The developmental abilities of the preterm infants with DD were significantly lower than those of preterm infants without DD at 1, 4 and 8 months, with significant increase in the gap between groups over time. Finally, when examining maternal resolution with the preterm birth, 38% of the mothers attained early resolution, at 1 month corrected age. Mothers whose pregnancies were at high-risk, and who eventually had an opportunity to prepare to the preterm birth were more likely to attain resolution than mothers who gave birth preterm with no previous complications and thus were more likely to be surprised by the preterm birth and to not have at all, or have a very short time to prepare for it.

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A Video describing the research , Editor : Shay Shlomi, 2016