Severity of perinatal cerebral injury and developmental outcome: A dose-response relationship.

The purpose of this study was to establish a dose–response relationship between extent of perinatal cerebral injury and quality of developmental outcome in childhood. To attain this goal, 54 school and preschool-age children who had incurred perinatal intracranial hemorrhage were recruited. The main index of hemorrhage severity—the degree of acute ventriculomegaly observed on the cranial ultrasonogram during the neonatal period—was significantly associated with outcome in all measured domains. These included verbal and nonverbal intelligence, motor skills, and behavioral problems associated with the externalizing and internalizing syndromal groupings. The putative neurobiological mechanisms underlying the observed dose–response relationship between perinatal lesion severity and developmental outcome are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)