Neurobehavioral assessment of appropriate for gestational and small for gestational age babies.

ABSTRACT

he present study was conducted to evaluate the neurobehaviour of term appropriate for gestational aland small for gestational age babies during the first two weeks of life in a tertiary care hospital. Forty eight appropriate and thirty small for gestation age babies were evaluated using Brazelton Neurobehavioural Assessment Scale on 3rd, 7th and 14th day of life. The behaviour of AGA babies is characterized by optimal performance in habituation, range of state, regulation of state and autonomic stability. The behavior is at low to mid-range in orientation and in motor clusters. All the behavior clusters showed improvement over first 14 days except for regulation of state which showed a lower performance on day 7 and 14. The behavior performance of SGA babies on day 3, compared to AGA babies, was lower in all the clusters except orientation where they performed much better. The percentage improvement of scores in SGA babies is higher than in AGA babies and by day 14 SGA babies are scoring higher than AGA babies in orientation, autonomic stability and regulation of state. The difference in the neurobehavior pattern of babies in relation to their intrauterine growth suggests need for appropriate care.