Working memory in very-low-birthweight children at the age of 11 years

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the working memory (WM) of very-low-birthweight (VLBW, 1500g) children at the age of 11years using Baddeley's WM model. A regional cohort of 95 VLBW children was assessed for the domains of the WM model (central executive [CE], visuospatial sketchpad [VS], and phonological loop [PL]) using subtests from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (WMTB-C) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). VLBW children were categorized into three groups according to their degree of brain pathology (normal, minor, or major) in neonatal brain magnetic resonance imaging at the term age, and the WM performance was compared between groups to test norms. The structure of the WM model was studied by analyzing correlations among domains. Even VLBW children with normal cognitive development (general ability index 85) performed worse compared to the test norms (M=100, SD=15) on CE (M=87.64, SD=20.54, p