The oral motor development of low-birth-weight infants who underwent orotracheal intubation during the neonatal period.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the potential development of oral motor problems following prolonged orotracheal intubation in low-birth-weight infants.


METHODS
Prospective observational.


METHODS
Tertiary-care hospital.


METHODS
Fifty-one low-birth-weight infants and 10 full-term infants divided into three groups--group 1 with 15 low-birth-weight infants (< or = 1250 g) who had been intubated for more than 1 week; group 2 with 36 low-birth-weight infants who had been intubated for 1 week or less; and group 3 with 10 full-term control infants.


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
Oral motor assessments of nutritive sucking were compared at corrected ages of term and 3 months. The results showed that low-birth-weight infants with prolonged intubation had significantly poorer sucking abilities at both term and 3 months. The number of days of oxygen use and the postnatal age (weeks) at which nipple feeding was begun were the most powerful predictors of sucking ability at term (P < .001), whereas the number of days of orotracheal intubation and gestational age at birth were the most powerful predictors of sucking ability at 3 months (P < .001).
Bier
J A
JA
Department of Pediatrics, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence 02903.
Ferguson
A
A
Cho
C
C
Oh
W
W
Vohr
B R
BR
D001034:Apgar Score; D001724:Birth Weight; D001903:Bottle Feeding; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007441:Intubation, Gastrointestinal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009048:Motor Skills; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013391:Sucking Behavior; D013997:Time Factors