Very low birth weight and growth to age 8 years. II: Head dimensions and intelligence
W. H. Kitchen, L. W. Doyle, G. W. Ford, C. Callanan, A. L. Rickards and E. Kelly
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Melbourne, Australia.
The occipitofrontal circumference was measured in all available children in
the following cohorts at ages 2, 5, and 8 years: group 1, consisting of 79
children with birth weight between 500 and 999 g; group 2, with 111
children with birth weight between 1000 and 1499 g; and group 3 with 56
children with birth weight greater than 2500 g; all were white with no
signs of moderate or severe cerebral palsy. National Center for Health
Statistics reference values indicated substantially more children with an
occipitofrontal circumference lower than the 10th percentile, particularly
at age 2 years, compared with Nellhaus reference data. Occipitofrontal
circumference was the head measurement best correlated with the Full Scale
IQ on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. Dolichocephaly,
often seen in very-low-birth-weight children was unrelated to IQ, and
correction of occipitofrontal circumference for dolichocephaly was rarely
of clinical importance.
