Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination and long-term cognitive outcome in children born very preterm

Abstract

Aim To study the association between the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE) at age 2 years and neurocognition at age 11 years in children born very preterm. We hypothesized that the HINE at 2 years would be associated with neurocognition, that is, neurological, motor, and cognitive outcomes at 11 years. Method A total of 174 children (mean gestational age 29.0wks, SD 2.7; minimum 23.0, maximum 35.9; 95 [55%] males, 79 [45%] females) born very preterm (birthweight Results The HINE global score was associated with the results of the TINE (odds ratio [OR]=0.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8-0.9, p=0.001), MABC-2 (beta=1.4, 95% CI 0.7-2.2, p Interpretation A higher HINE global score at 2 years was associated with better general intelligence at 11 years even in children without CP. The HINE may be a useful tool to detect children at risk for later cognitive impairment.