Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: As the medical world advances, there is an ever increasing survival rate of children that \nare born prematurely and of a low birth weight. For this reason more and more research \nis being done to investigate the consequences of being born pre-term and underweight. \nResearch has shown that children who are born prematurely may show signs of \ndevelopmental delay later on in life (Johnson, 2007). Motor development has been \nshown to be more affected by prematurity than any other causative factor of prematurity \n(Goyen and Lui, 2002). \nThe main aim of the study was to establish the differences in global development \nbetween pre-term and full-term infants at eighteen months. \nThe Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID II) were used to determine \nperformance in both the pre-term and the full-term group. These results were \nstatistically analysed in greater detail in the mental and the motor section. The Mental \nand Psychomotor Developmental Indices (MDI and PDI) of the BSID II were used to \ndetermine the extent of the mental and motor delays in this sample. \nThe Household Economic and Social Status Index (HESSI) was used in order to \nascertain if the socioeconomic status of a family had any bearing on the development of \nthe child in both the mental and the motor categories. This was statistically analysed. \nThe socio-economic factors assessed in this study did not show any statistical \nsignificance but did confirm that these children come from similar backgrounds. \nThe results of this study showed that there is a delay in the pre-term group when \ncompared with the full-term group. The mean MDI for the full-term group was 105.25, \nthis is compared with the pre-term group of 81.9, which is statistically significant \n(p<0.001). The PDI for the full-term group showed a mean score of 109.6. The mean \nscore for the pre-term group was 86.8. This also showed a statistical significance \n(p<0.001). \nThe pre-term infants in this study showed a significant delay both in the mental and the \nmotor domains. The cognitive delays may be linked to an under-developed corpus \ncallosum due to the premature birth. The motor delays may be caused due to a \ndecreased motor control and developmental dyspraxia. \nInfants that are born prematurely are at a higher risk to suffer from developmental \ndelays in the cognitive, language and the motor developmental domains. This study \nconfirms what has been found in previous studies showing cognitive development to be \nthe developmental domain most affected by prematurity. The results of this study are \nimportant as they support policy change to ensure that these children are followed-up to \nallow the at-risk children to reach their full potential.
Author: Diana Brown
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2186551022