Extremely preterm infants have a higher rate of disability than babies born at term. Our long-term follow-up program documents intelligence, muscle coordination, vision and hearing until school age. The program allows us to better understand the cause of the problem, allows us to detect children at-risk of developmental issues early and to refer them for early intervention. The Neonatal Developmental program is led by Clin Assoc Prof Mary Sharp, a consultant neonatologist at KEMH. Dr Tan and Dr Wagh coordinate the surgical follow-up program at Perth Children’s Hospital.
Agrawal S, et al. Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in preterm infants: A meta-analysis. Pediatrics 2018
Sharp M, French N, McMichael J, Campbell C .J Paediatr Child Health. 2018 Feb;54(2):188-193
Strunk, T, Campbell C, Burgner D, Charles A, French N, Sharp M, Simmer K, Nathan E, Doherty D. Histological chorioamnionitis and developmental outcomes in very preterm infants. J Perinatol, 2019 Feb.
Meldrum SJ, Strunk T, Currie A, Prescott SL, Simmer K, Whitehouse AJ. Autism spectrum disorder in children born preterm-role of exposure to perinatal inflammation. Front Neurosci. 2013 Jul 22;7:123.
Reynolds, V, Meldrum, S, Simmer, K, Vijayasekaran, S and French, N. A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Behavioral Voice Therapy for Dysphonia Related to Prematurity of Birth, Journal of Voice 2017;