What Will It Take to Improve Very Low Birth Weight Follow-up Care?

Introduction: facing the progressive increase in the survival of premature ta infants, a concern for health professionals would be related to the possible consequences arising from prematurity, among them the growth changes. Objectives: to describe the anthropometric variables of newborns Premature Very Low Birth Weight in the follow-up monitoring. Methods: observational, longitudinal and retrospective study, involving 71 children who left Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), with a weight lower than 1500 g who were treated between 2006 and 2013. They should have at least three outpatient visits within twelve months of corrected age after NCAU discharge, in the following periods: period I up to 3 months of corrected age; period II between 4-6 months of corrected age and period III between 7-12 months of corrected age. Results: the mean Gestational Age (GA) was 29.4 weeks, 51% male, birth weight 1073.2 g, 70% with appropriate GA. The hospitalization stay was 68.73 days. Weight Z score at birth -0.95; at discharge -3.05; in period I -2.4; period II -1.8; period III -1.2. Height at birth -1.21, at discharge -2.23; -2.5; -1.8 and -1.1 for the periods I, II and III , respectively. Regarding the PT Z score at birth -0.71; at discharge -1.5; and monitoring -1.1; - 0.8 and -0.5 respectively in the periods I, II and III. Conclusions: despite of the great Z score reduction in NICU, there was a progressive improvement during follow-up in the Z score in the three anthropometric variables.

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Neurodevelopmental Outcome at 36 Months' Corrected Age of Preterm Infants in the Multicenter Indomethacin Intraventricular Hemorrhage Prevention Trial

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.98.4.714 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 98 (4) ◽

pp. 714-718 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Laura R. Ment ◽

Betty Vohr ◽

William Oh ◽

David T. Scott ◽

Walter C. Allan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Birth Weight ◽

Low Birth Weight ◽

Intraventricular Hemorrhage ◽

Maternal Education ◽

Low Dose ◽

Very Low Birth Weight ◽

Cranial Ultrasound ◽

The Mean ◽

English Monolingual

Objectives. Low-dose indomethacin has been shown to prevent intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in very low birth weight neonates, and long-term neurodevelomental follow-up data are needed to validate this intervention. We hypothesized that the early administration of low-dose indomethacin would not be associated with adverse cognitive outcome at 36 months' corrected age (CA). Methods. We enrolled 431 neonates of 600 to 1250 g birth weight with no IVH at 6 to 12 hours in a randomized, prospective trial to determine whether low-dose indomethacin would prevent IVH. A priori, neurodevelopmental follow-up examinations, including the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, and standard neurologic examinations were planned at 36 months' CA. Results. Three hundred eighty-four of the 431 infants survived (192 [92%] of 209 infants receiving indomethacin versus 192 [86%] of 222 infants receiving saline), and 343 (89%) children were examined at 36 months' CA. Thirteen (8%) of the 166 infants who received indomethacin and 14 (8%) of 167 infants receiving the placebo were found to have cerebral palsy. There were no differences in the incidence of deafness or blindness between the two groups. For the 248 English-monolingual children for whom IQ data follow, the mean gestational age was significantly younger for the infants who received indomethacin than for those who received the placebo. None of the 115 infants who received indomethacin was found to have ventriculomegaly on cranial ultrasound at term, compared with 5 of 110 infants who received the placebo. The mean ± SD Stanford-Binet IQ score for the 126 English-monolingual children who had received indomethacin was 89.6 ± 18.92, compared with 85.0 ± 20.79 for the 122 English-monolingual children who had received the placebo. Although maternal education was strongly correlated with Stanford-Binet IQ at 36 months' CA, there was no difference in educational levels between mothers of the infants receiving indomethacin and the placebo. Conclusions. Indomethacin administered at 6 to 12 hours as prophylaxis against IVH in very low birth weight infants does not result in adverse cognitive or motor outcomes at 36 months' CA.

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