The clinical effect of early intervention on very low birth weight premature infants / 实用医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the influence of early intervention on physical and intelligent development of premature infants with very low birth weight. Methods Selected 32 premature infants of very lowbirth weight treated in neonatal intensive care unit during November 2011 to October 2012 as the intervention group. To avoid the violation of medical ethics, we select another 32 premature infants with very low birth weight who were born before November 2011and aged between 9 to 15 months as the control group. The intervention group was treated with early intervention, including regular physical development evaluation, neuromotor examination and test of intelligence. The intervention group was followed-up until correction age of 1 year and the control group was only at the year of correction age of 1 year. Results The physical development in the intervention group was better than the control group at the age of 1, the mental development index (MDI) and psychomotor development index (PDI) significantly higher than those of the control group as well. The incidences of low intelligence and cerebral palsy were lower than those of the control group. The differences were statistically significant. Conclusion Early intervention is obviously effective in promoting the physical and intelligent development of very low birth weight premature infants, reducing the incidence of low intelligence and cerebral palsy, and improving the long-term living quality of the survivors. Still, the method centers on family, and therefore, is feasible and effective. So the doctors for children′s care from basic hospitals should vigorously promote the method.