Predictive value of the parent-completed ASQ for school difficulties in preterm-born children <35 weeks' GA at five years of age.

Background: Preterm infants are at greater risk of developmental impairment and require close follow-up for early and optimal care. Objectives: The objective of the present study was to determine from which age the parental Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) allows detection of school difficulties in preterm children Methods: Preterm children from the regional Loire Infant Follow-up Team network were evaluated with the Global School Adaptation (GSA) assessment tool at 5 years of age and at least one parental-completed ASQ at 18, 24, or 36 months. Children belonging to the first decile of the GSA score (Results: GSA scores were obtained in 1,775 infants at 5 years of age, and at least one ASQ score at 18, 24, or 36 months was completed. Upon ROC analysis, we observed that the 18-, 24-, and 36-month ASQ scores produced respective area under the ROC curve values of 0.66 (0.64-0.69), 0.72 (0.70-0.75), and 0.77 (0.75-0.80) for predicting a GSA score in the first decile. An ASQ cutoff value of 255 at 36 months showed optimal discriminatory power for identifying significant school difficulties at 5 years of age. Conclusions: The 36-month ASQ is a simple and cost-effective tool that can be employed to help predict future severe school difficulties at 5 years of age in preterm-born children.