Psychomotor Development of Children Born Premature at the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital (Cameroon)

Abstract

Premature infants are at risk for developmental delay. We assessed the psychomotor development of children born before 37 weeks of gestation. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the Pediatric Department of the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital from January to May 2018. We used the Denver II scale to assess the psychomotor development of children born premature aged 9 months to 6 years. Children born between January 2012 and April 2017 at a gestational age strictly below 37 weeks of gestation were included. Using logistic regression, we searched for perinatal factors associated with abnormalities of psychomotor developmental. Results: We included 50 children in our study, 60% of whom were boys, giving a sex ratio of 1.5. The mean age was 25 ± 19.5 months. The mean gestational age was 33 ± 2.2 weeks and the mean birth weight was 2178.68 ± 748.01 g. The average Developmental Quotient of the population was 108. Six children (12%) had a global developmental delay (DQ < 70), 22% of the children had a language delay. Convulsion was associated with motor delay (OR = 16; P = 0.03), and pregnancy monitoring a protective factor for language delay (P = 0.02). Conclusion: Improving perinatal care remains a preoccupying issue. The assessment of psychomotor development should be done until early childhood to enable early diagnosis of learning disabilities.

Outcome of Very Premature Newborns in a Referral Hospital in a Resource-Limited Setting

“…The majority, i.e. 72.3% of children had a normal developmental quotient, these results are similar to those of Nguefack and Ballot who found a normal DQ in the majority [7] [16]. The children in the EPIPAGE cohort, free of neurological or sensory deficiencies, had a higher proportion of intellectual deficiencies Open Journal of Pediatrics (DQ below 70) in premature infants and this risk is 8% in children born at less than 33 years of age [12].…”

“…(2020) [7] who also found a predominance of language disorders among the disorders, as well as Ballot et al (2012) [16]. Despite different proportions, they also found that the most affected developmental element was language (9.4%), followed by cognition (8.5%) and motor skills (7.6%).…”

Reasons for Being “Zero-Dose and Under-Vaccinated” among Children Aged 12–23 Months in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…These children would have probably been fully vaccinated if health facilities had facilitated, instead of blocking their access to vaccines. Several other studies carried out in developing countries have also found the same reasons linked to the organization of health structures to be at the root of the non-vaccination of children [10,12,13,[16][17][18][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. There are many opportunities for families to be exposed to vaccination messages, such as: curative consultations, vaccination campaigns, prenatal consultations that reach up to 82.4% of the national target according to the results of the 2018 DRC Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey [35].…”

“…In relation to busy mothers, it is known that mothers may not have time to bring the child to a vaccination site because often the vaccination sessions take place at the same time as other activities that mothers have to prioritize. A busy mother as a reason for non-vaccination has been cited in several other studies [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Post Discharge Outcome of Preterm Infants in a Low-Middle-Income Country

“…Despite these improvements infants born preterm remain vulnerable to a wide range of complications, not only in the neonatal period, but also in the long term. 4,6 Recently interest has shifted from identifying the incidence of in hospital morbidity and mortality to long-term morbidities in childhood.…”