Objective:

To examine behavioral, cognitive, and multimodal neuroimaging outcomes in late preterm (LP) children compared with full-term (FT) children during early adolescence.

Approach:

• Participants: Children aged 9–11 years at baseline were categorized into LP and FT groups, utilizing data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.
• Methods: Longitudinal mixed-effects models were used to evaluate group, timepoint, and group-by-timepoint effects across various outcomes, including behavioral problems, cognitive function, and neuroimaging metrics.

Key Findings:

• The longitudinal models showed no broad LP–FT differences or group-by-timepoint interactions in behavioral and emotional problems, most cognitive outcomes, cortical thickness, cortical surface area, or resting state functional MRI within-network connectivity.
• Structural MRI showed group effects in six regional brain volumes, without significant timepoint or group-by-timepoint effects.
• DTI showed significant group effects in selected white matter tract metrics and significant group-by-timepoint interactions in selected DTI metrics.

Interpretation:

Late preterm birth is associated with subtle and regionally specific neuroimaging differences during early adolescence, particularly in DTI metrics.

Limitations:

• The study may not fully capture the long-term neurodevelopmental trajectory of LP children due to the complexity of neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Conclusion:

While LP children show some neuroimaging differences compared to FT peers, these differences are subtle and regionally specific.