Revealing language development delays in preterm infants compared to full-term infants based on the CCDI

Objective This study aimed to investigate and compare language development in preterm and full-term infants at 12 and 24 months of age, utilizing the Chinese Communicative Development Inventory (CCDI) to identify distinct developmental features in preterm infants and inform timely language interventions. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 139 preterm infants (59 at 12 months, 80 at 24 months) and 235 full-term infants (123 at 12 months, 112 at 24 months). The CCDI "Words and Gestures" (8–16 months) and "Words and Sentences" (16–30 months) questionnaires were used to assess gestural communication, early comprehension, vocabulary breadth, and syntactic complexity. Statistical analyses, including t-tests and chi-square tests, were performed to compare groups. Results Preterm infants exhibited significantly lower scores than full-term infants at both 12 and 24 months in various language domains assessed by the CCDI. Specifically, at 12 months, preterm infants showed deficits in initial gestures, motion gestures, phrase comprehension, vocabulary comprehension, and vocabulary expression. At 24 months, preterm infants scored lower in vocabulary expression and sentence complexity. The incidence of language development delay was significantly higher in preterm infants at both 12 months (40.68% vs. 18.70%, P = 0.0028) and 24 months (26.25% vs. 5.35%, P < 0.0001). Gender also impacted language development, with boys often exhibiting lower language development levels than girls. Conclusion Preterm infants demonstrate significant delays in both pre-linguistic and linguistic stages of language development compared to full-term infants, highlighting the importance of early language development assessment and targeted interventions to mitigate long-term sequelae. The CCDI proves to be a valuable tool in identifying these differences and guiding early intervention efforts.