Risk Factors for cognitive, motor and language development of preterm children in the first year of life

Abstract

Objective: To perform a longitudinal investigation of risk factors in premature infants’ cognitive, motor, and language development. Methods: Thirty-three preterm infants were assessed at 4, 8, and 12 months of corrected age, using the Bayley-III Scales. Parents completed questionnaires regarding development opportunities at home, parenting practices and knowledge. Results: Significant associations were found (1) at 4-months between cognitive scores and family income, variety of stimuli, availability of toys, parenting practices and knowledge; language and parenting practices; and motor skills and parenting practices; (2) at 8-months between cognitive score and length of stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), gestational age, birth weight, toys, and parenting knowledge; language and toys; and motor skills and toys and parenting knowledge; (3) at 12-months between cognitive scores and length of stay in the NICU, family income, breastfeeding, toys, and parenting knowledge; language and income and toys; and motor scores and length of stay in the NICU, gestational age, income, stimuli, toys, and parenting knowledge. Regression analyses indicated that: for (1) cognitive development, stimulus variety explained 72% of the model variance at 4 months of age; time at the NICU explained 67 and 43% at 8 and 12 months of age, respectively, and breastfeeding time explained 41% of the model variance at 12 months; (2) for language development, family income explained 42% of the model variance at 12 months; and for motor development (3), time at the NICU explained 80% of the model variance at 12 months. Conclusions: The development over the first year of life is not explained by the severity of birth conditions and associated morbidities only, but also by parenting practices.

Premature Newborns with the Potential to Develop Special Health Needs: An Approach by Triangulation of Methods

“…In the presence of premature newborns with special health needs, at birth or during hospitalization, there is an urgency in the recognition of demands from families and health professionals to guarantee qualified monitoring of their development (6,7). Thus, it is essential that mothers recognize these health needs, as they are the ones who can provide positive experiences and stimuli most of the time to strengthen the baby's development in the home environment with the family, with the help of a trained professional network (8,9). The present study formulated the research questions: Do premature newborns have the potential to develop special health needs?…”