Effects of Family-Centered Intervention for Preterm Infants at Preschool Age

Accumulating data on early intervention for preterm infants in Western countries have demonstrated short- to medium-term benefits on enhancing child cognitive outcome. Furthermore, the cumulative plasticity of dopamine-related genes may interact with environmental intervention in influencing a child's behavior. However, rare studies have examined the long-term effect of early intervention for preterm infants in Eastern society and whether the genetic markers interact with environmental intervention in shaping child developmental outcomes. To meet the contemporary concept of family-centered intervention and to adapt the findings of our previous studies into program design, we have developed a family-centered intervention program (FCIP) for preterm infants with very low birth weight (VLBW, birth weight \<1,500 g) in Taiwan and employed a multi-centered, randomized controlled study design to examine its short-term effects with respect to a usual care program (UCP) and its biosocial pathways.The FCIP contained ecologically pervasive child-, parent- and dyad-focused services that lasted from hospitalization until 12 months; the UCP contained child-focused services in hospitalization and phone calls after discharge. This three-year multi-centered study is therefore aimed to extend our research to examine the long-term effectiveness of FCIP on child and parent outcome compared to a usual care program (UCP) for VLBW preterm children in Taiwan at preschool age and to investigate if dopamine-related genes moderate intervention effect on child developmental outcome. A total of 275 ( 269 participants + 6 pilots) VLBW preterm infants have been enrolled and randomly assigned to the FCIP and UCP, and their buccal cells samples have been collected for typing of dopamine-related genes. All infants and families will be examined at 3 and 4 years of age for child and parent outcomes. Child outcomes will include growth, health, cognition, language, motor function, and behavioral measure