Investigation of neurodevelopment and demographic findings of premature infants who were followed up in the intensive care unit

Aim: Investigation of neurodevelopment and demographic findings of premature infants who were followed up in the Intensive Care Unit of Düzce University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, by the standardized form of the International Guide for Monitoring Child Development (GMCD) on Turkish children. Methods: Premature patients born under the 37th gestational week followed in The Newborn Intensive Care Unit of Düzce University Medical Faculty Hospital between January 2015 and December 2016 were retrospectively investigated through follow-up files. The patients were invited to Our Hospital for detailed neurological examinations and their neurodevelopmental processes were evaluated by the GMCD. All data were evaluated by using SPSS 15.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) statistical program and descriptive statistics were primarily applied for all data. Clinical and demographic data affecting the failing at guide were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. Results: 241 infants were included in this study, There were 24 (10%) (mean gestational age 30.35±7,8) preterm newborns between 28-32 weeks of gestation and 217 (90%) (mean gestational age 34.32±7.8) preterm newborns were present between 32-37 weeks, there was no significant difference between the two groups from the aspect of success at GMCD. We have observed that small gestational age, low APGAR score at 5 minutes, male gender, sepsis, intracranial hemorrhages, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, presence of indirect hyperbilirubinemia, use of venous catheter, respiratory distress syndrome, surfactant therapy, nasal CPAP, usage of oxygen inside incubator and oxygen therapy in hood were significantly higher at infants failed at GMCD. Conclusion: We observed that the most effective factors in delaying neurodevelopment at preterm newborns were intracranial hemorrhage with 6-fold increased risk, followed by bronchopulmonary dysplasia (5-fold), sepsis (4-fold) and respiratory distress syndrome (1 fold). Keywords: GMCD, International Guide for Monitoring Child Development, Neurodevelopment, Newborn, Premature.