Neurological follow-up of small-for-gestational age newborn infants: a study of risk factors related to prognosis at one year of age

Abstract

To examine the relative importance of some risk factors and neurological prognosis in the first year of life, 37 small-for-gestational age newborns were followed prospectively to 1 year of conceptional age. An abnormal neurological examination was found in 51.3% of the newborns and, at 12 months, 32.5% were still considered abnormal. Only 8.1% of the group had severe neurological sequelae at 1 year of corrected age. The developmental tests showed little changes during the first year, with abnormality rates varying from 16.1 to 25%. The following risk factors were analyzed concerning their relation to neurological and developmental abnormalities: high-risk pregnancy, maternal hypertension, social class, pre-term birth, neonatal asphyxia and weight and height less than 2.5 percentile at the age of 1 year. The statistical analysis showed a high correlation between subnormal weight gain and neurological (p = 0.0001) and developmental (p = 0.001) abnormalities at 1 year. None of the other risk factors were statistically related to neurological prognosis at 1 year.

The essential and toxic effects of trace elements in the biological tissues of pregnant women and newborn babies (an ecologically unfavourable region)

“…Thus, compared with other regions, all pregnant (megacity) w omen have higher levels of trace elements: Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ca, Cr, Ni in the blood serum and in placenta tissue (p < 0.05). This fi ts results of other authors [5,10,19,[27][28][29][30][31][32]. The levels of the essential macroelements -Mn, Mg and Fe were signifi cantly lower (p < 0.01).…”

“…3). The defi ciency of the essential elements (Cu, Fe, Zn, Mg, Ca) and the selective accumulation of toxic microelements (Cd, Pb) in the umbilical cord blood were the reason for the prenatal fetus suffering, low body mass at birth, growth retardation [23,27]. This conclusion was supported by our research on the physical development and health of the megacity newborn.…”

Neurodevelopmental delay in small babies at term: a systematic review

“…We included studies with population reference as controls34, 35, as the test for neurodevelopmental assessment was validated for the population, and the expected population distribution of scores had previously been confirmed. In some studies there was an inability to divide developmental scores of preterm from term babies57–63, or to extract mean developmental scores and their SDs, thereby leading to an inability to calculate the odds ratio11, 64–66. These were excluded.…”

Fatores prognósticos para o desenvolvimento cognitivo de prematuros de muito baixo peso

“…5,10 Apesar de fartamente estudado nos países desenvolvidos, existem poucas pesquisas brasileiras sobre o desenvolvimento psicomotor de recém-nascidos de risco, principalmente os prematuros de muito baixo peso. 6,9,14,15 O objetivo da presente pesquisa é descrever o desenvolvimento cognitivo, na idade pré-escolar, de uma população de crianças nascidas prematuras e de muito baixo baixo, que estiveram internadas em uma UTIN. Visa a verificar possíveis fatores prognósticos para o desenvolvimento cognitivo anormal.…”