Growth and development of infants surviving respiratory distress syndrome: a 2-year follow-up.
In a regional birth cohort of 5,356 live-born infants, during 12 consecutive months, 46 (0.9%) infants suffered from respiratory distress syndrome. Ten of them died before the age of 2 years. The cause of death was respiratory distress syndrome in two cases, intracerebral hemorrhage in four cases, asphyxia in one case, and congenital erythropoietic anemia in one case. Of the 36 survivors, 34 could be traced for the follow-up. Growth and development of the survivors with respiratory distress syndrome were compared with that of 3,375 term infants in the birth cohort with birth weights at the tenth percentile or above with no risk factors recognized during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or the neonatal period. Normal development was found in 85% of the survivors with respiratory distress syndrome and 99% of the control infants at the age of 2 years. Intracerebral hemorrhage and low one- and five-minute Apgar scores were associated with unfavorable outcome at 2 years in the survivors with respiratory distress syndrome. The developmental scores were significantly poorer than those of the controls at 2 years for gross motor, audiovisual, and psychosocial categories, whereas for fine motor development, the difference disappeared by the 2 years of age. The growth of the survivors with respiratory distress syndrome was satisfactory even if their heights remained below that of their control peers.
D000886:Anthropometry; D001034:Apgar Score; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000209:etiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006128:Growth; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology