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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Is there any difference between high-risk infants with different birth weight and gestational age in
Özgün Kaya Kara1, Mintaze Kerem Günel1, Cengizhan Açıkel2
1Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Insights
High-risk infants demonstrated normal cognitive, language, and motor development, irrespective of birth weight or gestational age. These crucial developmental parameters were not significantly impacted by variations in prematurity or low birth weight.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal development
- High-risk infant care
- Developmental pediatrics
Background:
- Premature infants and those with low birth weight are considered high-risk for developmental delays.
- Understanding the impact of gestational age and birth weight is crucial for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate differences in cognitive, language, and motor development among high-risk infants.
- To assess the influence of birth weight and gestational age on these developmental trajectories.
Main Methods:
- 160 high-risk infants (born ≤32 weeks, ≤1500g) were assessed at corrected ages of 1, 4, 8, and 12 months.
- Development was evaluated using the Bayley-III scales and the Neuro Sensory Motor Developmental Scale (NSMDA).
- Infants were grouped by gestational age (<30 vs. 30-32 weeks) and birth weight (≤1000g vs. 1001-1500g).
Main Results:
- All infants exhibited cognitive, language, and motor development within normal ranges.
- No statistically significant differences were observed in developmental outcomes between the groups based on gestational age or birth weight.
Conclusions:
- Gestational age and birth weight did not significantly affect the motor, cognitive, and language development of the studied high-risk infants.
- These findings suggest that high-risk infants, when monitored, can achieve normal developmental milestones regardless of initial prematurity or low birth weight.
Aim:
This study is aimed to investigate differences between cognitive, language and motor development of high-risk infants related to birth weight and gestational age.
Material And Methods:
One hundred sixty high-risk infants who were born 32 weeks, 1 500 gr and below included in this study. According to corrected age, 58 infants were 1 month, 72 were at 4 months, 82 were at 8 months and 65 were 12 months old. Infants were seperated two groups according to gestational age <30 weeks and 30-32 weeks and birth weight ≤1 000 gr and 1 001-1 500 gr. Infants motor development were assessed with Bayley-III Infant and Toddler Development Motor Scale (Bayley-III) and Neuro Sensory Motor Developmental Scale (NSMDA), cognitif and lanuage development were Bayley-III cognitive and Language scales. Assessments were applied by the same physiotherapist at 1 month, 4 months, 8 months and 12 months old infants in corrected age. Mann-Whitney U Test, 2 x 2 Chi-Square test ve Fisher's exact tests were used to compare group data. Statistical significance was determined p<0.05.
Results:
Cognitive, motor and language developments were in normal ranges in all infants. There were no statistical differences in cognitive, language and motor development between groups (p>0.05).
Conclusion:
Results of this study showed that the motor, cognitive and language development were normal in all high risk infants and power gestational age and birth weight did not affect these parametes.
