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Background: Children born extremely preterm (EPT) have altered brain volumes and cortical thickness and lower cognition than children born at term. Associations between these have remained largely unexplored, due to the lack of studies focusing on children born EPT., Methods: Children underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term and/or 10 years and cognitive assessments at 12 years. The study comprised of 42 children born EPT and 29 term-born controls with cognitive data and MRI data at 10 years, 25 children born EPT had MRI data at term age and 20 had longitudinal MRI data., Results: Cognition was positively associated with brain volumes at 10 years, but negatively associated with cortical thickness at 10 years. Most associations between term age brain volumes and cognitive outcomes were non-significant for children born EPT. Growth from term to 10 years in children born EPT was not associated with cognition. Insular volume was positively associated with cognition in children born EPT., Conclusion: Imaging assessments at 10 years had similar associations to cognition in children born EPT and term-born controls. Insular volume could be a biomarker for cognitive outcome. Associations between brain volumetric growth and cognition require further investigation., Impact: This study investigated brain volumes, volumetric growth, and cortical thickness in children born extremely preterm, who have rarely been studied exclusively, and compared the data with term-born controls. In both groups, brain volumes at 10 years were positively associated with cognitive outcome at 12 years, but cortical thickness at 10 years was negatively associated with cognitive outcome at 12 years. Volumetric growth from term age to 10 years was not associated with cognitive outcome in the subset of children born extremely preterm with longitudinal data. Insular volume may be a potential biomarker for cognitive outcome in children born extremely preterm., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Aim: Little is known about the prevalence of discrete white matter abnormalities (WMA) beyond the first years in children born extremely preterm (EPT) and the relation to neurodevelopmental outcomes. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of discrete WMA in children born EPT and the relationship to neonatal white matter injuries (WMI), white matter (WM) volume, WM diffusivity and neurodevelopment., Methods: The study was a part of a longitudinal follow-up study of EPT neonates. All children were scanned at Karolinska University hospital 2004-2007 (neonates) and 2014-2015 (children at 8-11 years). WMA was qualitatively assessed by visual inspection. Developmental assessment was conducted at 12 years., Results: In total, 112 children (median age 10.3 years, 56 girls) underwent MRI of the brain (68 EPT, 45 controls). In the EPT group, a subset had MRI around term equivalent age (n = 61). In the EPT group, the prevalence of discrete WMA at 8-11 years was 52%. There was a positive association between WMI at TEA and 8-11 years. There was no association between WMI and WM volumes or diffusivity at 8-11 years. Discrete WMA was not related to neurodevelopmental outcomes., Conclusion: Discrete WMA was prevalent in children born EPT at 8-11 years but were not related to neurodevelopmental outcomes., (© 2021 The Authors. Acta Paediatrica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation Acta Paediatrica.)