Standardized neurodevelopmental screening for children born preterm
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The EveryPrem Project: Evaluating the INTER-NDA for standardized neurodevelopmental screening at 2 years of age for all children born preterm
IRAS ID
263379
Contact name
Stephen H. Kennedy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford / Clinical Trials and Research Governance
Duration of Study in the UK
7 years, 3 months, 31 days
Research summary
This study aims to establish the effectiveness of the University of Oxford’s new neurodevelopment test for 2-year-old children who were born preterm (at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy) at the Women’s Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital (JRH), Oxford. Our objective is to determine whether it is feasible to extend neurodevelopmental screening, currently offered to only a third of children born at either less than 32 weeks of pregnancy or born very ill, to all children born preterm by using a new standardized neurodevelopmental assessment (the INTER-NDA). This is important because children born between 32 and 37 weeks of pregnancy are twice as likely than children born at term to have neurodevelopmental disturbances (NDDs) during childhood, but they are not routinely offered any standardized assessment until these problems begin to significantly impact their function and school performance during later life. The study will involve a 30-minute appointment at the JRH where researchers will conduct a series of play-based tasks (the INTER-NDA) to measure children’s vision, cognition, language, motor skills and behaviour at age 2 years. The children’s results will be compared to the new international child neurodevelopment standards constructed by the University of Oxford to (i) identify those at high, moderate and low risk of NDDs and (ii) characterize NDDs in the group of children born between 32 and 37 weeks of pregnancy. We plan to assess 600 children over 2 years. As a third of these children (those born very prematurely or very ill) will also undergo a different neurodevelopment test during their routine neonatal follow-up, we will compare the feasibility of using the INTER-NDA to (i) replace the current standard of care and (ii) extend the provision of developmental screening to all children born preterm. We will also correlate the INTER-NDA scores with the children's Year 2 SAT scores.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0474
Date of REC Opinion
12 Nov 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion