Language Trajectories of Children Born Very Preterm and Full Term from Early to Late Childhood

Abstract

Objective: To identify distinct language trajectories of children born very preterm and full term from 2 to 13 years of age and examine predictors for the identified trajectories. Study design: A cohort of 224 children born very preterm and 77 full term controls recruited at birth were followed up at ages 2, 5, 7, and 13 years. The number of distinct language trajectories was examined using latent growth mixture modeling allowing for linear and quadratic time trends. Potential predictors in the neonatal period (eg, birth group, sex, and medical risk) and at 2 years (ie, social risk and use of allied health services) for the language trajectories were tested using multinomial logistic regress..