About 15 million babies born prematurely each year, which represents more than one in 10 babies worldwide, according to observations of World Health Organization. Nearly one million premature babies die each year and many more suffer from lifelong physical, neurological or learning disabilities. In order to predict whether a premature child is at high risk for motor development disorders, researchers at University College London have identified a biomarker capable of detecting abnormalities that are difficult to identify with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The study by Professor Giles Kendall, published by the journal Radiology, involved 43 children, including 24 boys and 19 girls, born at less than 32 weeks of pregnancy and admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The researchers performed MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRI) scans on the particularly fragile white matter of newborns on the date they were supposed to emerge.
One year later, 40 of the 43 babies were reanalyzed using the same tests. Among the study participants, 15 children had abnormal scores and four scores proving cognitive impairment. By comparing these results, the study authors concluded that variations in two ratios (choline and creatine) are linked with these developmental delays. According to the researchers, observing them makes it possible to predict with 70% a high risk of motor development problems at one year and therefore to establish whether early intensive interventions are necessary.
