Module 07
Very preterm birth: consequences and outcome in childhood and future research
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Interview with Jennifer Zeitlin, Prof., Inserm, Project Leader
Duration: 14min
1. International comparisons of the care and outcomes of children born VPT: what can be learned?
Rolf Maier
Duration: 17min
Summary
This is a short overview on the progress and challenges in the care and outcome of very preterm infants over the last decades for those participants, who are not neonatologists and are not familiar with the postnatal intensive care of these infants. The presentation provides an overview of most important advances in care and reviews research showing the importance of comprehensive use of evidence-based practices in perinatal medicine for increasing survival without severe morbidity in very preterm infants.
Learning goals
- What progress have we made in caring for VPT births
- What are some of the major unanswered questions regarding the care of VPT infants
- What is the contribution of cohort studies versus randomized trials
2. Establishing research priorities: approaches and results
Jennifer Zeitlin, Prof.
Duration: 7min
Summary
This brief presentation describes how we selected priority research themes for the platform. It present the Delphi consensus methodology, explains how we selected an external panel of 64 European stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and shows which themes received the most votes from the panel.
Learning goals
- Why should we involve stakeholders in developing research priorities
- What is a Delphi consensus process
- What did key stakeholders say about research priorities on the consequences of VPT birth in childhood
3. Maternal education and cognitive development in children born very preterm: A meta-analysis of 15 European cohorts
Mariane Sentenac, PhD
Duration: 8min
Summary
Social factors are well known to affect cognition in the general population, but there is a debate about how important social factors are among children born very preterm who have other clinical risks for poor cognitive outcome. Data on this question are limited because it is difficult to harmonise information on family social status. Using harmonised data on maternal education and cognition in cohorts participating in RECAP Preterm platform, this study measures whether maternal educational level is associated with child cognition in the setting of very preterm birth.
Learning goals
- How can the RECAP Preterm platform be used to investigate the role of social circumstances in the functional development of children born VPT
- Why is important to understand the heterogeneity between cohorts and potential sources related to sample characteristics and study design
- What is the universal effect of maternal educational level on cognitive skills among children born VPT and what can we learn by comparing results across settings, the eras, and gestational-age sub-groups
4. Outcomes of births between 22 and 26 weeks of gestation in national population-based cohorts from Sweden, England and France
Andrei Morgan, PhD
Duration: 16min
Summary
Outcomes of extremely preterm births at the limits of viability are known to vary greatly across countries. In this study, we investigated survival in three cohorts participating in the RECAP preterm platform with marked differences in survival. The innovation of this study over previous investigations is its ability to describe survival over time – starting at the moment the pregnant women arrives at the hospital – to understand when mortality differences occur. Another innovation is to compare short and long-term morbidity in these cohorts to assess potential trade-off between mortality and future health
Learning goals
- How can we investigate differences in outcomes for extremely preterm births?
- What characteristics explain differences seen previously in survival for these births?
- When do survival differences for extremely preterm birth occur?
5. How neurodevelopment is affected by the aetiology of very preterm birth: preparing a project for the RECAP Preterm platform
Milla Ylijoki, post doc.
Duration: 6min
Summary
This presentation illustrates the methodology for setting up new studies on the platform. Very preterm birth has many different causes and it is hypothesized that the cause of the preterm birth affects the child’s health and developmental outcomes. Milla Ylijoki describes how she searched the literature to synthesize available research results and identify knowledge gaps and then looked through the data available on the RECAP Preterm platform to define the protocol for her study.
Learning goals
- What are hypotheses about why the aetiology of preterm birth has an impact on long term outcome?
- What are the strengths and limitations of existing scientific literature to answer this questions?
- How can this research question be addressed using the RECAP Preterm platform
6. Parental stress and wellbeing: why is this important
Marina Cuttini, MD, MPH, PhD
Duration: 8min
Summary
Parental stress was one of the themes that emerged as a major research priority in the Delphi consensus process. In this presentation, Marina Cuttini, Principal Investigator of the Action cohort, explains why research on this topic is so important for improving child health and development after very preterm birth.
Learning goals
- Why is parental stress a problem for the health and development of children born VPT
- What are the challenges of studying parental stress
7. Parental stress and wellbeing: reviewing the literature and data in the RECAP Preterm cohorts
Valérie Benhammou Sabrina Laroche
Duration: 6min
Summary
This presentation explains the background work undertaken to create a research proposal for a study on parental stress. This involved a scoping review of existing literature on parental stress to identify areas where research is limited and going through the questionnaires and data of the RECAP Preterm cohorts to identify the cohorts that can contribute data to a study on parental stress.
Learning goals
- What are current priority questions as seen in recent literature on parental stress
- What data have been collected on parental stress and wellbeing in the cohorts