Profile of premature infants undergoing speech-language-hearing care at a follow-up outpatient center

ABSTRACT

Purpose

to describe the profile of preterm children based on sociodemographic, clinical, and assistance aspects, and their association with peri- and postnatal data.

Methods

observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study, approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG, Brazil), under evaluation report no. 3,615.440. It was based on the analysis of 749 medical records of preterm children attended at the speech-language-hearing department of a multidisciplinary follow-up outpatient center. All medical records from 2009 to 2019 were included in the study. The association analyses were made with the Pearson chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and the statistically significant values were set at p≤0.05.

Results

the sample was evenly distributed between females and males, and most of them were moderate-to-late premature children. Most parents had graduated from high school, earning up to two minimum wages (60.0%). As for the clinical aspects, there was a statistically significant association (p≤0.001) between gestational age and birth weight, length, head circumference, use of kangaroo care, feeding method at discharge, ototoxic drugs, intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, and jaundice. Most babies (99.9%) were submitted to the Guthrie test, with normal results (95.3%). It was likewise with the Neonatal Hearing Screening (79.9%), with normal results (89.4%).

Conclusion

most of the sample were from low-income families, with late premature babies. There was a statistical significance for type of delivery, weight, length, head circumference, ototoxic drug use, intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, and jaundice, with changes occurring predominantly in extremely premature infants.

Keywords:
Speech Therapy; Health Profile; Risk Factors; Premature Newborn; Child Health; Ambulatory Care