title: The mental development and behavior of low-birth-weight Bangladeshi infants from an urban low-income community.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Adverse developmental consequences of low-birth-weight (LBW) infants have been frequently reported from developed countries where most of them are preterm. Few reports are available from developing countries, where the problem is huge and newborns are mostly term babies. We aimed to compare mental and psychomotor development and behavior of LBW Bangladeshi infants with those of normal-birth-weight (NBW) infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary data analyses from a randomized controlled trial of fish oil supplementation during pregnancy on infants' development at 10 month. There was no effect of supplementation on infants' development. All LBW (n=66) and NBW (n=183) infants were assessed for their mental development index (MDI), psychomotor development index (PDI), behavior and quality of psychosocial stimulation received at home. Socioeconomic information and anthropometric measurements were available, and bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to examine group differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  LBW infants scored significantly lower than NBW infants on MDI, PDI, activity and emotional tone. They came from comparatively poorer families and had lower gestational age than the NBW infants. After controlling for possible confounders, the NBW infants had significantly higher MDI (B=2.7, s.e.=1.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.6-4.8), PDI (B=3.5, s.e.=1.3, 95% CI: 1.0-6.0) and activity (B=0.5, s.e.=0.2, 95% CI: 0.1-0.9) scores. Furthermore, in a subgroup analyses, a consistent pattern of developmental delay was also noted in favor of term-LBW infants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a poor-urban Bangladeshi community, LBW infants had significantly lower mental and psychomotor developments and were less active than NBW infants at 10 months of age.
authors.affiliation: Child Development Unit, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh. ftofail@icddrb.org
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tofail
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Hamadani
authors.forename: A Z T
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mehrin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hakim
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Huda
mesh_terms: D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005395:Fish Oils / Q000494:pharmacology; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000523:psychology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D005395:Fish Oils