AVALIAÇÃO EPIDEMIOLÓGICA E NEUROPSICOLÓGICA DE CRIANÇAS PREMATURAS COM BAIXO PESO, ASSISTIDAS EM UM HOSPITAL MATERNIDADE ESCOLA DE REFERÊNCIA. SÃO LUÍS, MARANHÃO, 2012

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Health professionals are especially concerned with the care of low birth weight children. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, birth weight below 2500 grams is considered as low. Low birth weight has been found to place the child s future emotional, intellectual, and learning development at risk. Some studies have shown that, on the average, during the preschool phase, premature and low birth weight children evince lower cognitive performance than their normal weight peers. OBJECTIVES. Ascertain the epidemiological and neurological profile of premature, low birth weight children evaluated in a hospital school in Sao Luis, Maranhão. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach to birth cohort in 2001 of newborns admitted to the Hospital Unit of the Maternal and Child HUUFMA. Researchers recorded 45 records, only 27 of these children participated in the study was conducted using survey data from medical records and was applied to Scale WISC III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Based on findings, although the children sampled were from low-income families, their average total IQ (WISC-III) was in the normal range. Within the children sample there were no significant differences between Verbal and Performance IQ. No significant dependence relationship between epidemiological variables and preterm low birth weight.CONCLUSION: Regardless of birth weight, without severe complications during pregnancy and childbirth, the child can develop their cognitive intellectual, their social and cognitive social skills in a satisfactory and harmonious, (provided that adequately stimulated and under the guidance of skilled professionals), the same way that passes the development of children born at term and normal birth weight.