Psychiatric symptoms and risk factors in adults born preterm with very low birthweight or born small for gestational age at term

Table 2 Psychiatric symptom load in the three study groups

	Preterm VLBW (N = 61)		p	Term SGA (N = 68)		p	Control (N = 88)
	Mean (SD)	Cohen’s d	p	Mean (SD)	Cohen’s d	p	Mean (SD)
ASEBA Raw Scores
Anxious/Depressed	6.6 (7.3)	0.60	.069	6.8 (6.8)	0.64	.039	3.9 (4.5)
Withdrawn	2.4 (2.4)	0.50	.032	2.4 (2.5)	0.50	.047	1.5 (1.8)
Somatic Complaints	2.7 (3.0)	0.40	.032	3.2 (4.1)	0.60	.074	1.7 (2.5)
Thought Problems	1.7 (2.3)	0.75	.032	1.4 (1.8)	0.50	.039	0.8 (1.2)
Attention Problems	7.0 (4.8)	0.56	.015	6.4 (5.2)	0.42	.042	4.6 (4.3)
Aggressive Behavior	3.3 (4.0)	0.56	.062	2.5 (3.0)	0.26	.078	1.8 (2.7)
Rule-Breaking Behavior	1.8 (2.6)	0.53	.062	1.8 (2.6)	0.53	.078	1.0 (1.5)
Intrusive	1.7 (1.8)	0.43	.037	2.1 (2.1)	0.71	.016	1.1 (1.4)
Internalizing Problems	11.8 (10.8)	0.70	.032	12.4 (12.1)	0.79	.039	7.1 (6.7)
Externalizing Problems	6.8 (6.6)	0.73	.015	6.4 (6.0)	0.63	.016	3.9 (4.0)
Total Problems	34.0 (24.5)	0.71	.012	34.1 (27.0)	0.72	.016	21.6 (17.4)
Critical Items	3.3 (3.5)	0.75	.015	3.2 (3.5)	0.70	.039	1.8 (2.0)
AQ ^a
Social skill	2.0 (1.7)	0.47	.028	2.1 (2.3)	0.53	.136	1.3 (1.5)
Attention switching	4.4 (2.2)	0.55	.012	4.3 (2.1)	0.50	.012	3.3 (2.0)
Attention to detail	3.5 (2.1)	0.18	.395	3.4 (1.9)	0.14	.395	3.1 (2.2)
Communication	2.4 (1.7)	0.35	.156	2.3 (2.0)	0.29	.156	1.8 (1.7)
Imagination	3.2 (1.8)	0.29	.496	2.8 (1.6)	0.00	.496	2.8 (1.4)
Sum score	15.5 (6.3)	0.60	.028	14.6 (6.1)	0.43	.136	12.3 (5.3)
PDI ^b
Conviction	5.9 (7.9)	0.23	.590	5.1 (5.8)	0.11	.590	4.4 (6.6)
Preoccupation	3.8 (5.6)	0.29	.454	3.7 (5.7)	0.26	.454	2.6 (4.2)
Distress	4.2 (5.9)	0.27	.454	3.9 (5.9)	0.20	.454	3.0 (4.5)
Grand Total	15.7 (21.2)	0.27	.454	14.3 (17.7)	0.18	.454	11.3 (16.5)
Yes/no	1.9 (2.3)	0.29	.454	1.7 (1.7)	0.18	.454	1.4 (1.7)

P values vs control by non-parametric test, adjusted for multiple comparison according to Benjamini and Hochberg [32] and for three group comparison according to Levin et al. [31]
Abbreviations: VLBW Very Low Birth Weight, SGA Small for Gestational Weight, AQ Autism-Spectrum Quotient, PDI Peters et al. Delusions Inventory
^a AQ Sum score: n = 59 VLBW, 65 SGA, 85 control; Social Skill Subscale and Attention switching: n = 59 VLBW, 66 SGA, 87 Control; Attention to detail: n = 60 VLBW, 67 SGA, 87 Control; Communication: n = 59 VLBW, 66 SGA, 85 Control; Imagination: n = 59 VLBW, 65 SGA, 87 Control
^b PDI: n = 56 VLBW, 66 SGA, 86 control

ISSN: 1471-244X