Zoltan Nagy1, John Ashburner1, Bogdan Drakanski1, Hugo Lagercrantz2
1Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK; 2Department of Woman and Child Health, Kaolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Preterm birth has been identified as a risk factor for long-term morphological and cognitive development. However, it is also known that differences exist between cohorts and that neonatal practice and socioeconomic status can be important factors in the outcome. We investigated 74 ex-preterm and 69 term-born adolescents at a mean age of 15 years using voxel-based morhpometry and found that grey matter was smaller in the ex-preterm group in the temporal lobe, basal ganglia as well as the parietal, frontal and orbitofrontal corteces. However, when compared to previous studies the outcome is milder.