title: Neurological follow-up of small-for-gestational age newborn infants. A study of risk factors related to prognosis at one year of age.
abstract: To examine the relative importance of some risk factors and neurological prognosis in the first year of life, 37 small-for-gestational age newborns were followed prospectively to 1 year of conceptional age. An abnormal neurological examination was found in 51.3% of the newborns and, at 12 months, 32.5% were still considered abnormal. Only 8.1% of the group had severe neurological sequelae at 1 year of corrected age. The developmental tests showed little changes during the first year, with abnormality rates varying from 16.1 to 25%. The following risk factors were analyzed concerning their relation to neurological and developmental abnormalities: high-risk pregnancy, maternal hypertension, social class, pre-term birth, neonatal asphyxia and weight and height less than 2.5 percentile at the age of 1 year. The statistical analysis showed a high correlation between subnormal weight gain and neurological (p = 0.0001) and developmental (p = 0.001) abnormalities at 1 year. None of the other risk factors were statistically related to neurological prognosis at 1 year.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Neurologia Infantil, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gherpelli
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Costa
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011247:Pregnancy; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors