Neurodevelopmental and cognitive assessment of children born growth restricted to mothers with and without preeclampsia

We examined neurological and intellectual outcome of growth-restricted newborns of pregnancies complicated with preeclampsia and without preeclampsia. Seventy-five consecutive growth restricted newborns (<5th percentile) were prospectively followed up at 6 months' intervals. Newborns with major congenital malformations and newborns with evident intrauterine viral infection were excluded. At 3 years of age all children had detailed neurological examination and intellectual examination using the Mean developmental index (Stanford Binnet-IQ). Eleven children were born to mother with preeclampsia (ACOG criteria), and 64 were born to mothers without a definite diagnosis of preeclampsia. Gestational age was 34.7 weeks in the preeclamptic group and 37 weeks in the non-preeclamptic group. After adjustment for gestational age, there was no significant difference in the neurological exam score between groups, but the IQ was 85.5 in the preeclamptic group and 96.9 in the non-preeclamptic group (p< 0.03). We conclude that newborns born growth restricted after pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia have a lower IQ at the age of 3 years compared to growth-restricted babies without preeclampsia.