Title Participants Abstract "Validity of US norms for the Bayley Scales of infant development-III in Malawian children" "Elizabeth A. Cromwell, Queen Dube, Stephen R. Cole, Chawanangwa Chirambo, Anna E. Dow, Robert S. Heyderman, Annelies Van Rie" "Objective: Most psychometric tests originate from Europe and North America and have not been validated in other populations. We assessed the validity of United States (US)-based norms for the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (BSID-III), a neurodevelopmental tool developed for and commonly used in the US, in Malawian children. Methods: We constructed BSID-III norms for cognitive, fine motor (FM), gross motor (GM), expressive communication (EC) and receptive communication (RC) subtests using 5173 tests scores in 167 healthy Malawian children. Norms were generated using Generalized Additive Models for location, scale and shape, with age modeled continuously. Standard z-scores were used to classify neurodevelopmental delay. Weighted kappa statistics were used to compare the classification of neurological development using US-based and Malawian norms. Results: For all subtests, the mean raw scores in Malawian children were higher than the US normative scores at younger ages (approximately" "The effect of HIV infection and exposure on cognitive development in the first two years of life in Malawi" "Thomas Struyf, Queen Dube, Elizabeth A. Cromwell, Anna D. Sheahan, Robert S. Heyderman, Annelies Van Rie" "Objectives: To assess longitudinal patterns and determinants of cognitive development in infants living with HIV, infants exposed to maternal HIV infection, and HIV-unexposed infants. Methods: Prospective, community-based cohort study of 555 Malawian infants aged 8 weeks to 24 months, using multivariable linear mixed-effects regression models with random intercepts to analyze repeated measures of cognitive function. Results: At 3 months of age, cognitive scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID 3rd edition) were lower in the 96 HIV-infected infants (mean = 14.-1 (SD:4.8)) compared to the 289 HIV-exposed (mean = 16.5 (SD:3.7)) and the 170 unexposed infants (mean = 17.5 (SD:3.3)). Over the first two years of life, the small deficit in cognitive development of infants living with HIV who survived and remained in care did not increase (mean score 52.9 among HIV-infected vs 55.6 among HIV unexposed). In multivariable analysis, malnutrition and a more advanced clinical infant HIV stage had a negative impact on cognition at age 3, while financial security, care by the biological mother, and ART for mother and child were associated with better cognitive status at this young age. The positive influence of maternal ART reversed with age. Conclusions: Malawian infants exposed to HIV had a cognitive development that was similar to their unexposed peers in the first two years of life, while that of HIV infected infants lagged behind from the start. Early initiation of effective ART in all HIV infected mothers and infants, and prevention of infant malnutrition are important to safeguard cognitive development of children affected by HIV. (C) 2019 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved." "Mental and psychomotor development of 2-year-old children born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis/screening." "Sonja Desmyttere" "BACKGROUND: Embryo biopsy is a new invasive procedure applied in ART for diagnostic purposes in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or to increase pregnancy rate in preimplantation genetic screening (PGS). The objective of this study is to assess mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes in 2-year-old children born after PGD/PGS, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and natural conception (NC). METHODS: Two-year-old PGD/PGS (n = 70), ICSI (n = 70) and naturally conceived (n = 70) singleton children were recruited. The participation rate in the NC group was 88.6% and 94.5% in both ART conception groups. The mental and psychomotor development of the children was assessed using the Dutch version of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. The mothers were questioned about socio-demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Even after controlling for socio-demographic variables, no differences were found between the three conception groups for the mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes. Moreover, an equal number of PGD/PGS, ICSI and NC children obtained scores within the mildly delayed, the normal and the accelerated performance category of the BSID-II-NL. CONCLUSIONS: Children conceived after PGD/PGS show similar mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes at age 2 to children conceived after ICSI or naturally." "Neonatal creatinemia trends as biomarker of subsequent cognitive outcome in extremely low birth weight neonates" "A Raaijmakers, Els Ortibus, Theun Pieter van Tienoven, Christine Vanhole, E. Levtchenko, K. Allegaert" "Background and aims: Serum creatinine is traditionally used as a marker of renal function in neonates and relates to gestational age and disease severity in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. Creatinine is commonly used as a biomarker for early morbidity, but we aim to compare postnatal creatinemia trends as a biomarker for subsequent cognitive outcome. We hypothesize that impaired microcirculation not only in the kidney, but also in general (i.e. brain development) can explain this possible link. Study design and outcome measures: A cohort of ELBW infants was analyzed by Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-II) at the corrected age of 2 years old. Besides other perinatal indicators, neonatal creatinemia trends of survivors (n = 140) and BSID scores (n = 96) are compared and analyzed using optimal matching analysis. Hierarchical clustering analysis is applied to identify createnimia trends. Results: Four different creatinemia trends were identified (persistently high, normal, low, high but normalizing). A low creatinemia trend is significantly associated with the lowest percentages of postnatal corticosteroids, NSAIDS and intraventricular hemorrhage (p = 0.005, p = 0.013 and p = 0.041 respectively) compared to a normal or persistently high creatinemia trend and associated with the best cognitive outcome (+13 points compared to the mean creatinemia trend and +23 points compared to a persistently high creatinemia trend). Conclusions: Creatinemia trends after birth are not only useful to predict renal function, but are also associated with cognitive outcome in extremely low birth weight infants. Neonates who have low creatinemia trends after birth, have the highest BSID scores at the age of two years old." "Evolution of circulating thyroid hormone levels in preterm infants during the first week of life: perinatal influences and impact on neurodevelopment" "An Eerdekens, Gunnar Naulaers, Els Ortibus, Johan Verhaeghe, Lies Langouche, Christine Vanhole" "Background For several decades, transient hypothyroxinemia of prematurity (THOP) has been a topic of debate. The pathophysiology is incompletely understood and consensus on the therapeutic approach is lacking. This study aimed at gaining a better insight into the pathogenesis by studying the trends in thyroid hormone (TH) levels during the first week of life. Methods This single-center prospective observational study analyzed the plasma levels of total thyroxine (T4) and free thyroxine (fT4), total triiodothyronine (T3), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and T4-binding globulin (TBG) in cord blood and at the end of the first week of life in 120 preterm infants (gestational age [GA]" "Duration of Neonatal Antibiotic Exposure in Preterm Infants in Association with Health and Developmental Outcomes in Early Childhood" "Veerle Cossey" "Over 90% of preterm neonates are, often empirically, exposed to antibiotics as a potentially life-saving measure against sepsis. Long-term outcome in association with antibiotic exposure (NABE) has insufficiently been studied after preterm birth. We investigated the association of NABE-duration with early-childhood developmental and health outcomes in preterm-born children and additionally assessed the impact of GA on outcomes. Preterm children (GA < 30 weeks) participating in a multicenter cohort study were approached for follow-up. General expert-reviewed health questionnaires on respiratory, atopic and gastrointestinal symptoms were sent to parents of children > 24 months' corrected age (CA). Growth and developmental assessments (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID) III) were part of standard care assessment at 24 months' CA. Uni- and multivariate regressions were performed with NABE (per 5 days) and GA (per week) as independent variables. Odds ratios (OR) for health outcomes were adjusted (aOR) for confounders, where appropriate. Of 1079 infants whose parents were approached, 347 (32%) responded at a mean age of 4.6 years (SD 0.9). In children with NABE (97%), NABE duration decreased by 1.6 days (p < 0.001) per week of gestation. Below-average gross-motor development (BSID-III gross-motor score < 8) was associated with duration of NABE (aOR = 1.28; p = 0.04). The aOR for constipation was 0.81 (p = 0.04) per gestational week. Growth was inversely correlated with GA. Respiratory and atopic symptoms were not associated with NABE, nor GA. We observed that prolonged NABE after preterm birth was associated with below-average gross-motor development at 24 months' CA, while a low GA was associated with lower weight and stature Z-scores and higher odds for constipation." "Early clinical predictors of autism spectrum disorder in infants with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex" "Romina Moavero, Arianna Benvenuto, Leonardo Emberti Gialloreti, Martina Siracusano, Katarzyna Kotulska, Bernhard Weschke, Kate Riney, Floor E. Jansen, Martha Feucht, Pavel Krsek, Rima Nabbout, Anna Jansen, Konrad Wojdan, Julita Borkowska, Krzystof Sadowski, Christoph Hertzberg, Hanna Hulshof, Sharon Samueli, Barbora Benova, Eleonora Aronica, David J. Kwiatkowski, Lieven Lagae, Sergiusz Jozwiak, Paolo Curatolo, J. Anink, M. Blazejczyk, A. Bongaerts, J. Borkowska, D. Breuillard, D. Chmielewski, M. Dabrowska, J. De Ridder, K. Giannikou, J. Glowacka, L. Hamieh, A. Harvza, A. Iyer, Bart Janssen, J. Jaworski, M. Kaczorowska-Frontczak, K. Lehmann, A. Leusman, N. Madcowiak, J. Mills, A. Muelebner, C. Scheldeman, A. Sciuto, K. Sijko, M. Slowinska, A. Tempes, J. van Scheppingen, B. Verhelle, J. Vervisch, M. Urbanska, K. Zych, M. Biernacka, B. Lojszczyk" "Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is highly prevalent in subjects with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), but we are not still able to reliably predict which infants will develop ASD. This study aimed to identify the early clinical markers of ASD and/or developmental delay (DD) in infants with an early diagnosis of TSC. We prospectively evaluated 82 infants with TSC (6-24 months of age), using a detailed neuropsychological assessment (Bayley Scales of Infant Development-BSID, and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-ADOS), in the context of the EPISTOP (Long-term, prospective study evaluating clinical and molecular biomarkers of EPIleptogenesiS in a genetic model of epilepsy-Tuberous SclerOsis ComPlex) project (NCT02098759). Normal cognitive developmental quotient at 12 months excluded subsequent ASD (negative predictive value 100%). The total score of ADOS at 12 months clearly differentiated children with a future diagnosis of ASD from children without (p = 0.012). Atypical socio-communication behaviors (p < 0.001) were more frequently observed than stereotyped/repetitive behaviors in children with ASD at 24 months. The combined use of BSID and ADOS can reliably identify infants with TSC with a higher risk for ASD at age 6-12 months, allowing for clinicians to target the earliest symptoms of abnormal neurodevelopment with tailored intervention strategies." "Neurodevelopmental outcome of children with spina bifida aperta repaired prenatally vs postnatally: systematic review and meta-analysis" "Annalisa Inversetti, Lennart Van Der Veeken, Katrien Jansen, Frank Van Calenbergh, Luc Joyeux, Jan Bosteels, Jan Deprest" "OBJECTIVE: To assess the neurodevelopmental outcome of children with spina bifida aperta (SBA) treated prenatally as compared to those treated postnatally. METHODS: We performed a systematic review of the literature in PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library, comparing the neurological outcome of infants with SBA treated prenatally vs postnatally. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized prospective controlled studies were included. The primary outcome assessed was neurodevelopmental impairment at the age of 1 year or later. Secondary outcomes were preterm birth, need for ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt by 12 months of age, absence of signs of hindbrain herniation at the first postnatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation and independent ambulation evaluated at 30 months. RESULTS: Of 11 359 studies identified through the electronic search, six met the inclusion criteria and were assessed in full text and two, one RCT and one prospective cohort study, were ultimately included in the meta-analysis. Sensitivity analysis did not show any difference between the outcomes of the RCT alone and those of the pooled RCT and prospective cohort study. This allowed neurodevelopmental assessment of 213 children between 14 and 53 months of age. Neurodevelopment was assessed by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID-II) mental development index corrected for chronological age, with a cut-off of ≥ 70 (representing no more than 2 SD below the mean). The presence of neurodevelopmental impairment was similar between children who underwent prenatal (25/105 (23.8%)) and those who had postnatal (30/108 (27.8%)) repair of SBA (odds ratio (OR), 0.82 (95% CI, 0.43-1.56); P = 0.54), although the risk of prematurity was higher in the prenatal-repair group (OR, 17.62 (95% CI, 7.60-40.87); P "