Prematurity and Postnatal Neurological Sequelae

Objectives: Prematurity is a public health problem worldwide. Every year, 15 million infants are born premature, accounting for a prevalence of 11% in 84 surveyed countries. Premature births alone account for a quarter of all neonatal deaths. Survivors of premature births have high rates of postnatal neurodevelopmental morbidities. The study was conducted to determine the patterns and magnitude of post-natal sequelae in survivors of premature babies from NICU. Methodology: This was a longitudinal follow-up study carried out on 275 children. A data base of 325 preterm babies was prepared who were discharged from NICU of Rangpur Mother and Children, Bangladesh from 1st July 2016 to 30th June 2019. These children were followed up fortnightly by specially trained community health workers and also through telephone up to 31st December 2021. Relevant hematological, biochemical, radiological, imaging, audio logical and ophthalmological tests were done for accurate diagnosis on several occasions. Of the samples, 50 were excluded due to death and other various reasons. The results were presented in simple tables. Results: Out of 275 study samples 58.0% were moderate to late preterm but sequelae were present in 85.0% cases very preterm births. The most common sequel was cerebral palsy (13.5%). The others were poor memory and school performance (9.5%), communication disability (8.7%), deafness (4.3%), blindness (1.7%), ADHD (0.8%) and autistic behavior (0.45%). Six percent (6.0%) children had mixed complications. Conclusions: Survivors of preterm delivery suffer from different types of neurodevelopnetal morbidities which is inversely proportional gestational age.
Keywords: Prematurity, postnatal, neurocognitive sequelae