Causes and Consequences of Intrauterine Growth Retardation, Proceedings of an IDECG workshop, November 1996, Baton Rouge, USA, Supplement of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (International Dietary Energy Consultative Group - IDECG, 1996, 100 pages): Neurodevelopmental outcome of small-for-gestational-age infants: Sensory loss or handicap

Causes and Consequences of Intrauterine Growth Retardation, Proceedings of an IDECG workshop, November 1996, Baton Rouge, USA, Supplement of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (International Dietary Energy Consultative Group - IDECG, 1996, 100 pages)

Neurodevelopmental outcome of small-for-gestational-age infants

		(introductory text...)
		Problems of definition and interpretation
		Cerebral palsy
		Minimal neurologic dysfunction
		Sensory loss or handicap
		Conclusions
		References
		Discussion

Sensory loss or handicap

There are some, but not many, studies in which sensory loss has been evaluated in SGA infants. For example, visual acuity has generally not been found to be reduced in SGA infants (Hack et al, 1989; Hermans et al, 1992). Similarly, hearing acuity has not generally been found to be diminished in SGA infants (Low et al, 1982; Hack et al, 1989). On the other hand, integration of these sensory inputs into overall brain function seems affected by SGA status. As an example, Jiang et al (1991), used brainstem auditory-evoked response as a measure of functional integrity of the brainstem auditory pathway, which was reduced in SGA infants. Fried and Watkinson (1988, 1990), found that maternal prenatal smoking, a major risk factor for SGA, was associated with altered auditory response at 12 to 36 months. Saxton (1978) also found that smokers' infants had diminished auditory senses compared to other infants. Martikainen (1992) showed that asymmetric SGA infants had lower visuo-auditory perception scores than other infants. Similarly, Todorovich, et al (1987), found that the response to auditory stimulation in term SGA infants (n = 22) was significantly retarded compared to auditory response in term AGA infants (n = 50).