Functional development of preterm children born from singleton and multiple pregnancies: Preliminary study.

Abstract

Background: In recent years an increasing number of multiple pregnancies have been observed, which is a result of advancements made in reproductive technologies for infertility treatments as well as a tendency for women to delay childbearing until later in life. The risk of preterm birth in the case of a twin pregnancy is five to seven times higher than that of a singleton pregnancy, and in the case of triplet pregnancy, the risk is even 10 times higher. The objective of the study was to assess and compare the functional development of children aged between 2 and 2.5 who were prematurely born from singleton, twin and triplet pregnancies.

Material and methods: The study was carried out in a group of 43 children aged between 2 and 2.5 who were born prematurely (between the 32nd and 36th week of pregnancy) in 2017 and 2018. Group I was made up of 10 children born from singleton pregnancies, group II included 12 children born from six twin pregnancies and group III consisted of 21 children born from seven triplet pregnancies. The evaluation of functional development was conducted using the Munich Functional Developmental Diagnostics.

Results: There were no statistically significant differences in functional development between the studied singletons, twins and triplets. In the examined groups of singletons, twins and triplets, the calculated quotient medians for the 50th percentile approximated 1, which means that development was typical and did not differ from the development of the general population. In turn, for the 95th percentile, the median scores usually approximated 0.8, which also indicated that there was no significant delay in development. Had scores been higher than 1, this might have indicated a delay.

Conclusions: On the basis of the study group, no relationship was found between the multiplicity of pregnancies and the functional development of premature babies born between the 32nd and 36th weeks of gestation.