Cardiorespiratory events in extremely low birth weight infants: neurodevelopmental outcome at 1 and 2 years.

Objective: To examine the association between cardiorespiratory events (CRE) and neurodevelopmental (ND) outcome at 8 and 20 months corrected age (CA) in a contemporary extremely low birth weight (ELBW )cohort.

Methods: Retrospective chart review of 98 ELBW infants born in 2009 to 2010 who completed ND assessments at 8 and 20 months CA. Neonatal, sociodemographic, CRE and ND data were collected. ND outcome measures included neurologic examination and results from the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III. Multiple regression analyses adjusted for the impact of neonatal risk factors on ND outcome.

Results: After adjusting for neonatal and social variables, greater frequency of CRE was related to worse language scores at 8 months, while CRE of greater severity were related to worse language at 20 months CA.

Conclusions: CRE in ELBW infants have impact on language development in the first two years of life.