Basel Study of Preterm Children (BSPC)

Background: Very preterm born children have increased rates of cognitive, socio-emotional, and mental health difficulties later in life compared to term born children. The Basel Study of Preterm Children BSPC has a focus on studying sleep behavior and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPAA)-function in preterm and full-term born children. Design and Participants: The BSPC is a longitudinal cohort study of very preterm children (< 32nd week of gestation) and an age and gender matched comparison group of term born children. The preterm children were born between 6/2001–12/2006 and recruited from an original cohort of 260 very preterm children born during that time in Basel, Switzerland. The term born children were recruited from official birth notifications. Children participated during 3 waves of the study at an average age of 8, 10, and 12 years. In total, 214 children and their parents participated (108 very preterm and 106 term born children), however, the number of participants varies depending on the measurement occasion and the respective measure. Measures: Measurements included (a) parent and child-report questionnaires on children’s wellbeing, behavioral and emotional problems, sleep behavior and problems, physical activity and exercise levels, and parenting behavior, (b) interviews with children regarding their mental health (Kinder-DIPS), (c) cognitive development, (d) measures of motor development and gait development, (e) assessment of children’s HPAA-function, (f) sleep EEG/polysomnographic-assessment of sleep, (g) actigraphy/activity monitoring to measure sleep and physical activity, and (h) blood samples to assess brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentration.