Recent research indicates that low birth weight (prematurity) is correlated, in varying degree, with a number of deficits and debilities in development. Intellectual impairment, for example, has been found to be significant for very low-birth-weight individuals, but not for those at the upper end of the low-birth-weight distribution. Low birth weight is relatively frequent in the histories of mental retardates, institutionalized individuals (in general), and high school dropouts. In addition, deviant behaviors such as hyperkinesis, autism, and involvement in childhood accidents, appear to be relatively common among prematures, as are difficulties in language development, and in various areas of academic achievement. Physical growth, motor behavior, and neurological functioning are adversely affected as well. Minimal brain damage is presumed by some researchers to mediate these sequelae. In turn, poor maternal nutrition, and inadequate prenatal care are viewed as causative of both low birth weight and of the attendant minimal brain damage. The difficulty of exercising proper control over potentially confounding variables is also discussed.
35 variables descriptive of birth and obstetric complications, prematurity, maternal discomfort, and demographic status were studied for a sample of 322 infants. Factor analyses of these variables resulted in 7 major factors that were used to predict developmental status at 1 year of age for 233 of the subjects. Factors identified as "prematurity," "delivery and related variables," "ethnicity," and "complications" made significant independent contributions to Cattell DQ at 1 year. When Cattell DQs were corrected for the effects of gestational age, only delivery and related variables remained critical, confirming the importance of this factor for later development.
The comparative value of various parameters of neonatal maturity for predicting the development of the infant at 1 yr. was assessed for a sample of 233 low-birth-weight and full-sized infants. The 4 “traditional” infancy-status measures (birth weight, gestational age, birth length, and head circumference) predicted the 1-yr. outcome measures best, the infancy-status variables, in general, contributing independently to outcome even when demographic predictors were included in multiple regression analyses. The Cattell Developmental Quotient was the outcome measure most closely related to the neonatal maturity measures. Implications of these findings are discussed.
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