Relationship between Neonatal MRI Findings and Emotional/Behavioral Evaluation in Early Childhood for Extremely Low-Birth-Weight Infants

Akinobu Taniguchi; Masahiro Hayakawa; Erina Kataoka; Naozumi Fujishiro; Yoshiaki Sato

doi:10.3390/jcm11030772

Relationship between Neonatal MRI Findings and Emotional/Behavioral Evaluation in Early Childhood for Extremely Low-Birth-Weight Infants

J Clin Med. 2022 Jan 31;11(3):772. doi: 10.3390/jcm11030772.

Authors

Akinobu Taniguchi¹, Masahiro Hayakawa¹, Erina Kataoka², Naozumi Fujishiro³, Yoshiaki Sato¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Neonatology, Center for Maternal-Neonatal Care, Nagoya University Hospital, Nagoya 466-8560, Japan.
² Department of Pediatrics, Anjo Kosei Hospital, Anjo 446-8602, Japan.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Japanese Red Cross Aichi Medical Center Nagoya Daiichi Hospital, Nagoya 453-8511, Japan.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to detect future behavioral and emotional problems in extremely low-birth-weight infants by evaluating the neonatal head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a scoring system. This study included 62 extremely low-birth-weight infants born between April 2015 and March 2017 and those who had undergone MRI at 36 to 42 weeks of gestation. These subjects were administered with the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at age 4-5, and the patients who responded to the questionnaire were included in the study. A positive correlation was observed between the Global Brain Abnormality Score and Total Difficulties Score of the SDQ (r = 0.26, p = 0.038). However, no significant difference was observed between the median Global Brain Abnormality Score of the normal and borderline-range group and the Total Difficulties Score of the clinical-range group (p = 0.51). This study demonstrated the relationship between the MRI findings in the newborn period and the emotional and behavioral problems in early childhood, but it is not clinically useful as a predictive marker.

Keywords: Developmental Quotient; Global Brain Abnormality Score; Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ); low-birth-weight infants; neonatal MRI.