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Meta-Analysis of Hippocampal Volume and Episodic Memory in Preterm and Term Born Individuals

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Abstract

Preterm birth (< 37 weeks gestation) has been associated with memory deficits, which has prompted investigation of possible alterations in hippocampal volume in this population. However, existing literature reports varying effects of premature birth on hippocampal volume. Specifically, it is unclear whether smaller hippocampal volume in preterm-born individuals is merely reflective of smaller total brain volume. Further, it is not clear if hippocampal volume is associated with episodic memory functioning in preterm-born individuals. Meta-analysis was used to investigate the effects of premature birth on hippocampal volume and episodic memory from early development to young adulthood (birth to 26). PubMed, PsychINFO, and Web of Science were searched for English peer-reviewed articles that included hippocampal volume of preterm and term-born individuals. Thirty articles met the inclusion criteria. Separate meta-analyses were used to evaluate standardized mean differences between preterm and term-born individuals in uncorrected and corrected hippocampal volume, as well as verbal and visual episodic memory. Both uncorrected and corrected hippocampal volume were smaller in preterm-born compared to term-born individuals. Although preterm-born individuals had lower episodic memory performance than term-born individuals, the limited number of studies only permitted a qualitative review of the association between episodic memory performance and hippocampal volume. Tested moderators included mean age, pre/post-surfactant era, birth weight, gestational age, demarcation method, magnet strength, and slice thickness. With this meta-analysis, we provide novel evidence of the effects of premature birth on hippocampal volume.

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Available upon request.

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The Meta-Essentials 1.1 macro for Microsoft Excel was used for all analyses (Hak et al. 2016; Van Rhee et al. 2015).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Urvashi Gupta and Salma Hassanieh for help with the initial screening of papers. We would also like to thank Andrew Heitzer, Jamie Piercy, Christopher Trentacosta, and Robert Rothermel for insightful discussions that informed the writing of this paper.

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The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

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Drs. McCall, Raz, and Ofen generated the idea for the article, Dr. McCall and Ms. Homayouni performed the literature search and data analyses, and Dr. McCall wrote the initial draft, Drs. McCall, Yu, Raz, and Ofen and Ms. Homayouni edited and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dana M. McCall.

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McCall, D.M., Homayouni, R., Yu, Q. et al. Meta-Analysis of Hippocampal Volume and Episodic Memory in Preterm and Term Born Individuals. Neuropsychol Rev 34, 478–495 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-023-09583-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-023-09583-6

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