Perinatal inflammation is associated with social and motor impairments in preterm children without severe neonatal brain injury

Objective: To test the association between exposure to perinatal inflammation - i.e. clinical chorioamnionitis or early-onset neonatal infection - in preterm children without severe neonatal brain injury and neurodevelopmental outcome at 30 months of corrected age (CA). Design: Cross-sectional study from a French regional cohort of clinical follow-up (SEVE Network). Patients: One hundred sixty-four surviving neonates without severe brain injury - namely, grade III and IV cerebral hemorrhage and cystic periventricular leukomalacia - and without late-onset neonatal inflammation exposure - namely, late-onset neonatal infection and necrotizing enterocolitis -, born at less than 33 weeks of gestational age from November 2011 to June 2015 and enrolled in the SEVE Network. Main outcome measure: Global developmental quotient (DQ) score of the revised Brunet-Lezine scale and its four indices measured by the same neuropsychologist at 30 months of CA. Results: After multivariate analysis, exposure to perinatal inflammation was not found significantly associated with a modification of the global DQ score (coefficient -1.7, 95% CI -4.8 to 1.3; p = 0.26). Exposure to perinatal inflammation was associated with a decrease of the gross motor function DQ score (coefficient -6.0, 95% CI -9.9 to -2.1; p < 0.01) and a decrease of the sociability DQ score (coefficient -5.1, 95% CI -9.2 to -0.9; p = 0.02). Language and visuospatial coordination DQ scores were not affected by exposure to perinatal inflammation. Conclusion: Exposure to perinatal inflammation in preterm children without severe neonatal brain injury is independently associated with decreased motor and social abilities at 30 months of CA. (c) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of European Paediatric Neurology Society.