CHICAGO — Two blood-building drugs injected soon after birth may give tiny preemies a lasting long-term edge, boosting brain development and IQ by age 4, a first-of-its-kind study found.

The study was small but the implications are big if larger, longer studies prove the drugs help even the playing field for these at-risk children, the researchers and other experts say.

Babies who got the medicine scored much better by age 4 on measures of intelligence, language, and memory than preemies who didn’t get it. The medicine group’s scores on an important behavior measure were just as good as a control group of 4-year-olds born on time at a normal weight.

The results were published Monday in Pediatrics.

Associated Press