Neurodevelopmental outcomes and occupational participation of preterm children at school age: a scoping review

Abstract

Preterm children may experience major challenges that affect their occupational participation and daily functioning, especially at school age. This scoping review aims to examining and synthesizing the available literature about adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes and occupational participation restrictions of preterm children born < 37 weeks of gestation. The MEDLINE, Science Direct, CINAHL databases were searched from January 2013 to December 2023, for published cohort studies that assessed the neurodevelopmental outcomes and occupational participation of school-aged preterm children, compared to full-term born peers. Out of 6631 identified articles, 13 studies met the inclusion criteria and involved 958 preterm children, aged 6-10 years old. Studies included in the current scoping review reported adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, such as cognitive impairment, executive function and sensory processing deficits, emotional and behavioral problems, language and visual perception difficulties, as well as occupational participation restrictions, like feeding difficulties, academic challenges and peer relationship problems. Findings suggest that neurodevelopmental deficits and occupational participation restrictions, especially in extremely preterm children, not only exist in early childhood but persist during school age. Future research should focus on exploring potential differences or patterns in neurodevelopmental outcomes and occupational participation between preterm groups with different gestational age ranges.